Cricket coaching, fitness and tips - Fitness

The Little-Known Secrets to Cricket Fitness

David Hinchliffe — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 04:18:00 +0000

Cricket has always had a strange relationship with fitness. There is no one training method that fits all.

Literally.

It's a testament to the inclusive nature of the sport that it can easily allow for success whether you are a beast, a rake or a chubster.

Of course, we know strength and conditioning (S&C) helps. It must do, why would professional teams hire strength coaches if it didn't?

We are also uneasy about it.

Does it make you too bulky? Or too selfie-obsessed narcissistic? Does it stop you being able to play cricket as well as you can? Isn't it boring? Does it cause mental health issues (as the article above hints at)?

These are complex questions with no single answer.

No wonder most people are confused.

Let's try to unpack it a little and get your fitness for cricket back on track.

The truth: Cricket fitness starts with culture

One thing that is rarely mentioned is the culture of your team, but that's important because culture is the basis of many player's fitness training.

If you are a professional cricketer with a strength coach in the back room team, you have to work hard to avoid fitness. Questions would be asked if you didn't treat your body right.

If you are in social cricket team the opposite is true. You will be ribbed for going for a run or drinking a protein shake. You are accused of taking it all too seriously.

More likely, your team is somewhere between the two. There is general acceptance of some fitness training, but you can be seen to take it too far.

Understand this, because it will dictate strongly how you train.

If your fitness ideal doesn't match the team culture, either change the culture or live with being an outsider.

Find what it is that motivates you to train in this environment. It might be a desire to be contrary. It might be pure passion to become a cricketer. Whatever it it, get on with it. Work within those constraints by using your inner motivation.

Break though cricket fitness confusion with testing

Let's assume you have both the desire to be fitter and a culture that gives you room to do it. Because if you don't have those thing you can stop reading now.

Still with me?

The next barrier is confusion.

S&C is complex. People study it for a lifetime. It contains terms that blow the average player's mind. Read an article by Wellington School Coach and fast bowling fitness guru Steffan Jones and pretend you know nothing about fitness. It reads like a foreign language.

(Steff is brilliant by the way, but you need a good base of knowledge to get the most from him.)

In this sea of confusion we cling onto the life raft called "just":

"Just lift some light weights and bowl..." "Just run when you bat in nets..." "Just do 50 press ups a day..."

Whenever you hear "just" when it comes to fitness for cricket, set off your balderdash alarm. It's bound to be incomplete advice.

Mostly the "just" is right, but it's also over-simplified.

In reality there is no "just".

S&C is a balancing act of strength, stamina, mobility, core stability, balance, body awareness and power. It doesn't all transfer to cricket, but enough does to make it worthwhile for injury prevention and performance improvements.

But it's confusing. Where do you start?

Not many people are so into that part of their game they spend hours reading and researching and asking for advice.

But you can test.

Work out what you need most, look up some ways to do it online and get started.

See what happens.

It takes time, a couple of weeks up to a few months: If you need to get stronger hit the gym and lift up heavy things. If you need to get more flexible start stretching. If you need to lose fat, try a diet plan.

How did it go?

If you saw progress, stick with it. If you saw anything else, try a new plan. Not everything works for everybody. You need to see what works for you.

To get you started, here are some questions:

Does your body allow you to get into good positions to have an effective technique?
Do you put enough power into your shots and bowling?
Can you maintain focus and concentrate over a whole innings and match?
Are you injury-prone?
Can you move and dive athletically?
Can you move fast enough to chase a ball down or make a quick single?
Do you enjoy fitness and are motivated to do it, even when it's not directly linkable to cricket?

If not, work out how you can use S&C to improve things based on the time, motivation and equipment you have.

Summary

Fitness is influence by team culture. Learn how to use it.
No one thing works for all, so ignore the over-simplified advice and test for yourself.
Have fun!

The Easy Guide to Strength and Conditioning for Cricket

David Hinchliffe — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 05:13:00 +0000

Fear.

It’s a natural reaction to the unknown and a way of protecting yourself. But your job isn’t to live in fear of negative results, it’s to improve.

And that means learning some of the basics of general fitness alongside cricket skills.

We know fast, mobile, coordinated and athletic people are the best cricketers. These are traits that can be taught just like cricket skills.

If you can get over that fear.

Play to get fit?

Some say that fitness comes from playing the game. There is no need to do anything else because the more you play the more match fit you get.

Why bother with anything else?

Yes, match fitness is a crucial part of the fitness jigsaw. No amount of strength training is going to teach your body how to bowl 25 overs in a day. But to say you play to get fit has it the wrong way around.

You get fit to play.

Doing it that way around means that players - even from the age of five - are learning universal skills.

Good cricket training teaches "fitness" skills like running, changing direction, throwing, jumping, catching, and coordination. As players get older it builds up injury-resistant bodies.

If it wasn’t for that fear, why wouldn’t you be trying to be like this?

Here are the basics.

First, have some fun

Strength and conditioning is not often associated with fun. It should be though, because at any age there is a desire to enjoy what you are doing. Whether you are a five year old beginner or a 40 year old trying to prolong your career, fun is a key element.

An effective method is to focus on a specific "physical literacy" skill every cricket training session. You can be creative with it but here are some ideas:

Speed: Use simple running races, making sure you keep it close by competing with someone close to your pace. Between races discuss how you can run faster. You don’t need to know much about sprinting technique, jut be prepared to test things out.
Agility: Use races with a change of direction in them. This can include starting from different positions (sitting, backwards, lying, walking) and different types of change (cut left or right, 180 degree turn, sudden stop and go). To make it less formal you can play team games with a ball and a scoring system. Starting, stopping and changing direction will all improve naturally.
Jumping: Simple competitions can be used here to see how far you can jump on two or one leg. Lay out flat markers gradually increasing in distance apart and see how far down the line players can get. Jumping is really all about knowing how to land so cue by encouraging a soft landing.

Sneak in the fitness stuff as a warm up and move on to more cricket specific skills. There's a big crossover anyway so you should find it easy.

Get the basics right

The next stage is less outright fun and more focused on getting the basics right. You can still use the warm up for these drills but the are now more conspicuously fitness work and so work better with older players.

Mobility: Start each session with drills to improve dynamic mobility. Focus on the ankle, hip, thoracic spine and shoulder.
Strength: Take time to learn the proper technique in common bodyweight and resistance exercises. The idea is understanding how to do basic movement patterns: the squat (one and two leg), the deadlift, the row, the pull up and the push up as well as core exercises and stability work. A resistance band is the easiest way to add resistance. Insist on strict technique and go for quality not quantity.
Conditioning: for most, this is what fitness means; getting a sweat on. To make it specific, and sneak in improvements while no one notices, make fielding drills longer to get used to interval style training.

Once you are done with the warm up (and 15-20 minutes should be plenty) you can get on with the cricket practice.

If you are feeling very clever you can even slip in some more work as you go along. For example, getting the batsmen waiting to go in the net to do some mobility drills or strength training.

Want more serious training?

So far we have looked at sneaking some fitness in here and there. It will help but to go up a level you need a little more. The problem is that both knowledge and equipment is hard to come by.

One thing you can feel happy doing is getting out of breath. Endurance levels soar with some serious interval training.

You could set aside an extra training session to do this but many at school or club level with a limited time will want bang for the buck and combine it with other drills.

Fielding drills and fitness make a lot of sense. Most out-fielding drills can be adjusted to make the distance covered longer. Keep groups small and waiting times short. Work time (that's when they are doing the drill) should be on a 1:2, 1:1 or 2:1 basis depending on fitness levels. So a 1:1 ratio is 30 seconds work, 30 seconds rest. 1:2 is 30 seconds work with 60 seconds rest.

Running between the wickets can be added to net training or middle practice easily. You can even have specific sessions that focus on running between the wickets that will do the fitness job too. Again, keep your mind on work to rest periods.

Strength work is more difficult, as to move beyond basic bodyweight and band work, you need weights, probably in a gym. Seek out a good trainer to help you with this. It might be costly but if you are serious, strength is proven to boost your game.

At this point, recovery becomes a crucial aspect. Sore and tired players won’t do well. You can help players learn how to recover better through advising on:

None of this is complicated, but it is often ignored or seen as a waste of time. However, if you get the simple things right here, you can see huge gains.

Develop Faster Running and Better Fielding with a Stopwatch and This Drill

David Hinchliffe — Tue, 05 Sep 2017 10:16:43 +0000

This simple drill boosts running and fielding confidence.

One of the things that distinguishes better cricketers is their ability to pick up quick singles, but it is hard to train well. With this drill you can show batters exactly how many they can pick up, while helping fielders work on stopping those runs.

The only extra gear you need is a stopwatch.

The drill is in two parts.

Part 1: How quick single?

This is part fitness training, part cricket skill. Mark out 22 yards to run between. Warm up as this is sprint training and the chances of injury are higher. Have someone with a stopwatch ready then,

Run a three as fast as you can, record the results.
Rest for 2-3 minutes to allow a full recovery.
Run a single as fast you can, record the results.

If everyone on the team does this, you have a leader board of how fast a single and a three is taken. A side benefit is you will know how fast people are, but the main benefit is everyone knows how long it takes to get to the other end from a standing start.

Generally, if you are under three seconds, you are doing all right.

Now we can do something with this information.

Part 2: Can you make it?

Set up a fielding drill where the goal is to get a run out.

The fielding position can be anywhere in the ring. Point, square leg, mid on and mid off are good starting points. Here is an example drill where for point hitting the non striker's stumps:

The drill is simple because you will have your stopwatch again.

This time you time how long it takes to pick up the ball and get it over to the stumps. The ideal is to hit them, but we are mainly working on how fast you can get to the ball and get it away, so it's not crucial.

Spend some time trying a few different ways to cover the ground faster, get a clean pick up and throw the ball accurately. See what method gives you the fastest results.

Once you have had a few goes, compare times.

You will find that it is very difficult to execute a direct hit run out within the time it takes to get to the other end.

This should give your batsmen more confidence that they can pick up singles in the ring, even when the fielding is tight.

Part 3: Put it together

From here you can progress the drill to middle practice where batsmen are trying to pick up as many quick singles as possible in a set time. Based on their times, they should get plenty more than they thought possible.

Taking that into a real match is a bigger hump to get over, but the more you practice this, the better confidence you can have in "engaging autopilot" and rushing up the other end, knowing you will get in every time.

(And the fielders will get better at hitting the stumps with all that practice!)

Middle Drill: Battlezone Cricket Helps Improve Batting, Bowling and Fielding

David Hinchliffe — Wed, 03 May 2017 08:13:03 +0000

Last night, the team I coach ran an experimental practice drill to improve game sense and raise the intensity of net practice. Here's how it went.

The drill is called "Battlezone". It's been around for a few years but we have never tried it before. It's a variation on middle practice that adds intensity and focuses on fielding skills and batsman running skills.

The drill is set up like this:

On a middle wicket, set out a net that is strung 30 yards out, going all the way around the 30 yard circle. This is the "battle zone". If there is not suitable netting available then use cones.
Have plenty of balls available.
Two batsmen, two bowlers, a keeper and three fielders take part in the drill. It lasts for 4-8 overs per batting pair.
The batsmen attempt to score as many runs as possible while the bowlers bowl and the fielders field.
The batsman bat "normally" (they can hit boundaries) but are encouraged to focus on hitting the ball on the ground and rotating the strike rather than big hitting.
The bowlers and fielders attempt to bowl dots. Bowlers bowl in pairs in overs. When not bowling the other bowler fields at mid off.
If the ball goes out of the zone, grab another ball and continue. Collect the balls up only at the end of the drill.

If that is not clear, there is more about battle zone cricket here. And a video here.

Here are my reflections on the drill.

Positive battle zone cricket

The small-sided focus allowed players to know exactly what they were working on rather than just hitting balls.
The open nature got players out of the net mentality of not picking gaps or running runs. Players were developing skills outside of a net situation.
It was more realistic than nets, but also fast-moving enough to stop players feeling like were wasting training time.

Negative battle zone cricket

As more players arrived and joined in, intensity dropped. It may be that this is a short drill that only lasts a few overs before reverting to more traditional training.
Some batsmen chose to try and smash the ball, especially later when the bowling and fielding lost intensity.
Set up and take down was very time consuming. I would probably go with only cones for faster set up and have someone collect balls, possibly those waiting to bat.
Too many people fielding also make it hard to rotate the strike, which was the point.

Overall I would call it a success as it got the team out of nets. To make it even better I would suggest small groups of about equal skill, a shorter session and an better opportunity for reflection after the session to make sure players were focused on developing skills.

The biggest point for the coach is that it's OK to try new things. They will not always work perfectly, but just getting us to do something different is a vital part of continuing development, especially with older players.

Improve Your Fast Bowling Run Up Speed with These Drills

SamLavery — Tue, 14 Feb 2017 09:53:58 +0000

What do we want a fast bowler’s run up to achieve?

We already know from my last article that run up speed is a great way to bowl faster. So let’s look in more detail at the run up.

Keeping this fairly simple, we want a run up to get up to a high speed, achieving peak speed in the few steps preceding the take off.

This creates a jump that is longer than it is high.

From here, the landing must get your feet lined up in a manner that is neither closed off, nor significantly open.

Finally, and this one’s important, it must be repetitive.

To challenge how we run, we can progressively overload it in a variety of ways.

Line sprints

I do a lot of these throughout the year with the bowlers I work with. Very simply, it involves running from a standing start along a straight line (there are loads of these on any sports hall floor), until a top speed is achieved.

Fast bowlers will often say that if they run “too fast” they feel off balance or lose body control. But to become more comfortable at that speed, a bit of repetition and overloading the process can do wonders.

The aim of a line sprint is to achieve controlled acceleration towards a top speed. I challenge bowlers to retain their head directly above the line. Now this doesn’t mean every bowler should run in gun barrel straight. From their starting point toward the direction they’re looking to project the ball. Cutting through the take off, landing point, making one long straight line. After all some bowlers like to approach from an angle. And some may find that a small angle helps them align their base or their body in preparation for delivery.

However, I would say that the angle shouldn’t be too steep, and it would ideally be direct in itself. Too much angle and not enough of the speed being developed is moving towards the target. While any run up that isn’t direct is subject to greater variability (in my experience). Straighter lines are much simpler to repeat, manage and assess.

So let’s get on with challenging that run up.

After the simple line sprint I have a series of variables that bowlers can work through, initially without a delivery at the end of the run up, but once a bowler is able to retain body control with speed then they can bowl or throw whatever it is they’re carrying.

Progressions

With a cricket ball in the bowling hand you move away from an athletic “sprint” style approach, driving the arms in straight lines, more towards a style that is less productive at generating speed and maintaining balance.

Use your arms to run, particularly accelerating.

You can also put a cricket ball in the non bowling hand.

A change such as this challenges balance and upper body / lower body synchronisation.

Other ways are:

Run with A med ball held in both hands. This stops their arms working, which immediately disrupts a bowlers balance
Run with a mini med ball in the bowling hand. I usually use a 600g ball. This is a great way to overload the bowlers control.
Run with a mini med ball in the non-bowling hand.
Under run. By reducing normal run up distance to 75% of usual approach, you’re forced into placing a greater emphasis on the acceleration phase and getting up to top speed sooner.
Over run. Extending the approach length to approximately 125%, you’re challenging a bowler to retain top speed for longer.

These are just a few of the ways I like to overload the approach process of a bowler, you can be creative and find any number of different options, depending on what it is you’re trying the challenge; acceleration, top speed or balance.

Below are a few other ways you can challenge your run ups.

Sled pulls
Bungee runs (pulling from behind for power, either side for balance, or in front for over speed and control)
Straight line bounds
Right foot hops accelerating up to a top speed and into the delivery stride
Left foot hops accelerating to a top speed at the point of take off

These are all different ways of developing that all important speed into take of, whilst keeping one eye on body control and balance throughout.

Never lose sight though of what we’re trying to achieve.

A high speed run up that is controlled and can be repeated over and over again. That allows the bowler to jump into a landing position where feet are well aligned.

Overloading anything will make it harder, and during the process using any of the above methods to challenge them, the quality of the delivery may appear to drop.

However, when we return to the less inhibited approach, we’ll hopefully start to reap the benefits of the overload.

The Inside Track on Cricket Shoes

David Hinchliffe — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 06:48:00 +0000

You under-appreciate your feet.

During a hard game you can be on them hours at a time, working with your ankles and legs to keep you upright, balanced and performing to your best. Every step you run generates a force that is 2.5x your body weight through your foot. If you are a fast bowler the impact at the point of delivery jumps up to 9x.

They take a lot. Yet many players give only short consideration to the boots they wear.

It's time that changed.

What do you look for in a good cricket boot?

That is harder to answer than you might think. The reason for this is that there is a difference between what sport science thinks is best and what shoe manufacturers make.

The science of feet

The best way for our feet to function is barefoot. That may seem a surprise to those who have been brought up on the common knowledge of more cushioning and more support.

But people have been around a lot longer than trainers. We are designed by nature to be able to walk, run and sprint without shoes. Our feet have thick skin and a feedback system that works with the support muscles in our legs and hips to allow for heavy impacts and excellent balance.

Various studies have backed this up:

Runners with old shoes are less likely to be injured than runners with newer shoes.
The more cushioning in your shoe, the more likely the injury.
The thicker and harder the sole of your shoe, the worse your balance becomes.

You can read about all these studies in a long article by Dr. Froncioni, an orthopedic surgeon (worth reading though).

On top of this, injury rates in fast bowlers continue to increase despite increases in cushioning and support in their shoes. I have also seen evidence with basketball players that the more support the shoe gives your ankle, the weaker and less flexible the ankle becomes.

Despite this evidence, walking into any shop that sells trainers or cricket boots shows you the opposite: More support and more cushioning.

Where does that leave our poor feet in all this?

It's a personal thing: Most of us can't play barefoot after years of conditioning our feet to be in shoes. We have to find a compromise. The more we can do to minimise the risk of injury with our footwear the better.

Cut

Cut is how high the boot goes up your ankle. With cricket shoes the two options are high cut bowling boots and shoe cut boots for batting and fielding.

Fast bowlers are the main users of bowling boots as they are designed to support the ankle. As we are not bowling in bare feet, the chance of slipping in medium cut boots and socks is higher, so this is sensible.

But we already know that this can reduce the range of motion of your ankle, another injury risk.

To overcome this, make sure you are warming up before and cooling down after play/training with 5 minutes of ankle mobility. Here is a great video that explains how.

Also a bit of gentle warming up in bare feet will work wonders. Just make sure the ground is safe from stones/glass/other stuff that hurts.

Spikes

Unless you are a fast bowler, the spike in your boots is a matter of preference. There are 4 main options:

Full spike
Half spike (where the spikes are just at the front)
Rubbers (with no spikes, just rubber moulded grips)
Adjustable (can add or remove spikes and replace with rubber)

Fast bowlers need a full spike for the extra stability. Always wear them unless you are prevented from doing so by playing on artificial surfaces.

Other players can go with whatever option is most comfortable. The more spikes you have the more grip you have in the surface which is a double edged sword. On one hand you are less likely to slip and fall on the other hand you may get your foot caught in the ground and turn your ankle or knee.

Generally the softer the surface the more useful spikes become, the harder the surface the less you need them.

Cushioning

As we know, most cushioning is probably doing more harm than good. For this reason it's best to avoid manufacturer named cushioning technology like Gel and Air. A simple shoe with as thin a sole as possible is statistically superior: You are less likely to get injured.

If you do buy something with lots of cushioning try and 'break it in' before using it for a full game.

Other tips

Wear older boots, and break in new ones slowly.
Go barefoot as often as you can in normal life.
Consider wearing "barefoot", "minimal" or "zero drop" style training shoes in the gym or nets.
Remember to mobilise your ankles in your warm ups.
There is no one perfect shoe. Experiment until you find something comfortable for you.

In the future manufacturers may come up with something better for cricket. Shoes are already appearing.

Until then, experimentation and compromise are the only solution.

Reduce Injury in Fast Bowlers by Managing Workload

David Hinchliffe — Mon, 28 Nov 2016 08:38:30 +0000

Bowling fast causes injury.

This is a proven fact in both science and anecdote. Another proven fact is the more you bowl fast, the more likely you are to get injured. Studies - sponsored by governing bodies and universities around the world - have identified the key causes, factors and contributors to bowler injury.

In the process we discovered it’s not just how many overs a bowler bowls.

It’s also how frequently they bowl.

There is a minimum amount of bowling as much as a maximum.

The the kinds of surfaces bowlers bowl on count.

Even the amount of fielding (ie throwing) is relevant.

Coaches are increasingly giving attention to finding the perfect line between bowling a lot - to gain skill, experience and match fitness - and bowling too much and risk getting sidelined. There is also some awareness that setting artificial workload limits introduces false physiological limits that are counterproductive.

Altogether, there is increasing consensus that WorkLoad Management (WLM) is a key task for coaches of serious fast bowlers too. Coaches and players need to work together to manage workload.

Manage bowling workload

“Managing workload” is a simple way of saying: set a limit to how many balls a bowler bowls a week, and count them to make sure the danger line is not crossed. This allows bowlers to gain strength, fitness, experience and skill while keeping injury risk manageable. This is the trade off every bowler has to make in the quest for mastery.

What is the best workload for this?

Everyone is different, but the ECB have put lot of research into a wide range of bowlers and come up with some general rules. These are for both practice and matches:

In any seven day period a fast bowler can bowl up to four days, and for a maximum of two days in a row
Up to 13 years old can bowl 60 balls a day (in 30 ball spells)
14–15 years old can bowl 72 balls a day (in 36 ball spells)
16+ years old can bowl 108 balls a day (in 42 ball spells)

As with all general rules, there are outliers: We all know of the bowler who can get through way more than 500 balls a week in peak season without issue. We all know of the incredible physical specimen who breaks down if they so much as say “right arm over, umpire”.

That said, these rules work more often than they don’t.

We also know that different surfaces make a difference. The harder the landing, the more force on the bowler’s body. Bowling on concrete increases workload compared to bowling on grass or a sprung floor.

Easy workload management

One of the bigger challenges organisations have had in monitoring and management workloads is difficulty obtaining workload data from players.

Cricketers are notoriously lax in submitting reports by paper or email. Even then it requires a small army of administrators to compile and assess the data. PitchVision has been working in first-class cricket to make this process as easy and reliable as possible; to remove the inconvenience factor for players, administrators, coaches and physio’s alike.

The solution is PitchVision Workload Management.

Players and coaches are able to:

Set a weekly limit for balls bowled.
Track balls bowled in practice, games and informal sessions.

You can see the results on the phone or laptop to see how workloads compares to limits for the day, week, month, season or more. You can even see different surface types.

The convenience and simplicity factor is addressed through the PitchVision app (Android or iOS) making fast and easy for players log their workload, even when they are still at the session or on the bus home.

For administrators,and coaches the results update in real-time on your own app or via your pitchvision.com portal.

It’s a superb way to track and visualise this crucial part of bowling fast.

What are your experiences on managing bowlers to keep injury at bay?

For details on workload management system, please, contact PitchVision.

Kapil Bhatia on +91 9321 243797 or kapil.bhatia@pitchvision.com
Neil Fairbairn on +44 (0) 7813 649054 or neil.fairbairn@pitchvision.com
Craig van Dyk on +27 (83) 5568019 or craig.vandyk@pitchvision.com

Cricket Catching Agility Drill

David Hinchliffe — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 09:37:58 +0000

This is a useful cricket catching drill for smaller spaces where you also want to improve athletic ability.

The sideways shuffling allows you to develop speed and mobility, useful in a number of cricket situations. The catching just makes it fun!

Grab some cones, balls and a Katchet and go for it. If you can't see the video above, click here.

How to Warm Up for Cricket

David Hinchliffe — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 09:00:00 +0000

By now we know that cricket warm ups are a great way to prepare your body for play and reduce the chance of injury.

They can also be used to improve your cricket.

Mobility, posture and flexibility are key components in cricket fitness. Often they ignored by cricketers: They are not as useful as technique and not as hardcore as endurance or strength training.

The warm up bridges this gap between cricket performance and normal life. Think of your warm up as a ramp to the top of your game: Without it you will struggle to to get to the top.

Here is the complete cricket warm up to get you to there.

Cricket warm up basics

The idea is to activate all of your cricket playing muscles with slowly increasing intensity. This has the added secondary ability of getting you mentally ready too. Start slow and build up.

NOTE: Warming up is established before games. This is a great idea if you are an opening bowler or batsman, less so if you are in the field and useful only for injury prevention reasons if you bat down the order. Make sure you time your warm up with when you are performing for maximum effect.

For now, we will focus on the pre-match warm up as this is most used. You will need:

Space to move around: 20 yards square is big enough.
Time to get physically and mentally ready: 5 minutes is the bare minimum but when you include skill work this can jump up as high as 45 minutes.
Equipment: This can vary from a couple of cricket balls and a stump up to medicine balls, resistance bands and other expensive gear. Use what you can get.

You can mix and match any of the parts of the warm up depending on time.

1. Starting slow, building up

A lot of teams start with a jog round the outfield, or game of touch rugby or football to raise the pulse rate. This is fine, but can go wrong.

It's better to combine this general pulse raising time with movements that mobilise your cricket playing joints too.

Walk backwards and forwards, do movements like lunges, side lunges, and hurdle walks at a slow pace.
Use movements like squats and star jumps as your heart rate moves up.
Move onto core stability exercises next. Focus on technique rather than exhaustion.
Change from walking to jogging and perform runner-style movement drills like knee lifts, carioca and skips.
Finish this section with some simple power movements like standing long jumps, power push ups or med ball throws.

With all these exercises the variables will depend on the individual. Balance the feeling of being ready with doing too much. A very fit player might be happy to do 3 sets of 10 clap push ups where a young or unfit player can't even do a normal press up. Judge your level based on feeling.

You can customise this section to the injury-prevention needs of the team or yourself here. For example, if hamstring pulls are an issue, spend more time on hip mobility exercises. There are loads of movements you can find online.

Overall, you should be working up a sweat but not exhausting yourself.

2. Sprints to focus the mind

A few short sprints really wake you up mentally and physically for cricket. If you have time and the appropriate fitness level, finish with five sprints over 20 yards:

Sprint 1: Standing Start
Sprint 2: Sideways Start
Sprint 3: Backwards Start
Sprint 4: Lying Start
Sprint 5: Walking Start

jog back for recovery. You can involve a ball and jump straight to high intensity fielding drills instead.

3. Cricket skills in the warm up

By this point you should be warm enough to perform some cricket fielding, throwing and catching drills at a good intensity. This section is all about "blowing away the cobwebs". That means reminding yourself about skills and getting your eye in close to game time. It's not about technical changes or doing so much your tire yourself out. Find the balance.

Specialists can work on their own skills.

Batsmen can have a net or do batting drills.
Bowlers can mark out their run and try hitting a target without a batsman as a distraction.
Wicketkeepers can either work with the bowlers or find someone to throw them balls.

For more details on this section, have a look at this video we made on the structure of a warm up.

Customise to your cricket needs

The take away point here is that warm ups are simple but they have a lot of options. You need to customise.

There is no one right way to warm up for cricket because every team and player have different needs. That means all the above are general principles in which you can customise based on time, equipment, player needs, player age and skill level.

Perhaps you feel less of number one and more of number three is best for you. That's fine, as long as it gets you in the right frame of mind and prevents injury.

I encourage you to build your own template for a warm up, then spend time finding the mobility drills, skill drills and equipment to perfect your own warm up. It takes a little time, but it's a vital part of success for cricketers set on a long career.

If you are further interested in both warm up and fitness, buy Strength and Conditioning for Cricket here on PitchVision Academy.

Khyati Gulani: Preventing Injuries in Women's Cricket

David Hinchliffe — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 09:27:52 +0000

This is a guest article from new contributor, Khyati Gulani. Khyati is an ex-cricketer now coaching state and academy cricket in Delhi.

Women cricketers are more prone to injury than men.

A recent study at Harvard Medical School showed the gender gap in sports injuries are on the rise due to sheer lack of awareness of such problems. Structurally, women are more prone to injuries due to:

Higher estrogen levels, along with less body mass and high propensity to accumulate fat leads to fragile bones and stress fracture
Less powerful muscles and lose ligaments, leads to muscle injuries and spasm
Wider pelvis that alters the alignment of the knee and ankle leads to knee injuries
Narrow space within knee for Lower Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) to travel through
Anaemia, calcium and Vitamin D deficiencies lead to lower stamina, stress fracture

So, injuries like stress fractures, knee injuries, shoulder and joint trouble and ankle sprains are likely to trouble women more than men.

The situation may be worse for Indian women. Studies show 59% of women suffer from anaemia in India. 27% women have thyroid imbalance and 76% have Vitamin D deficiencies. These are startling statistics for women who want to be athletes.

Anecdotally, look at Saina Nehwal. Saina’s feet are small for her frame. She suffers from a form of Plantar Fasciitis, a condition that is the most common form of heel pain and one that athletes are particularly susceptible to. This has made her sit out of important tournaments. Saina has since focussed on Bio-mechanics to map her movements to understand better her power and reaction forces, landing patterns and accordingly strengthen herself in the weaker areas.

Saina is lucky to have an array of trainers and expensive techniques to heal her faster. Not all athletes have this. So, the golden words remain true; prevention is better than cure. Also, starting early has its dividends. After reaching a certain age, it is difficult for an athlete to change their style of playing.

Here’s what I suggest to my players:

Eat better: What you eat is 80% of what you are, thus one must focus on a balanced diet. Avoid junk at all cost and think of diet as a lifestyle rather than a forced activity. Look at natural sources of irons and use supplements under strict advice.
Strengthen your lungs: Strong lungs will put in strong stamina. For people who can’t run laps fearing injuries, swimming is best alternate and better than running at times.
Identify weak areas in the body and design programs to strengthen the weak areas.
Focus on mental fitness: A 2008 study concluded women to be mentally and emotionally stronger than men. Use this to your advantage, ladies. Mental fitness seem to have inconspicuous benefits and must be an important aspect of your personality development
Enjoy your body: Put some enjoyment into fitness, do a combination of running, biking, elliptical, Yoga and dancing! Yeah, dancing can be great source of fun and bring you out of monotone.
Female athletes should do exercises which focus on lower body stability. As they should have strength in their lower body, thighs, hips and feet for the longer stride and stability.

For a female cricket player to be as fit as the male counterpart, you have to better understand your body, as early as possible, focus on the positives and enjoy the rigour.

Citations and Bibliography:

This is a guest article from new contributor, Khyati Gulani. Khyati is an ex-cricketer now coaching state and academy cricket in Delhi.