A similar injury profile observed between men’s and women’s tournament cricket: Injury surveillance analysis from the first two ‘The Hundred’ competitions

Introduction: In 2021, ‘The Hundred’ was introduced in England and Wales domestic cricket, consisting of 100 balls innings, 20 less than T20 cricket. Understanding the injury profile in a new competition and format of a sport can inform injury prevention strategies. This study aims to describe the injury profile of the ‘The Hundred’ and to compare injury epidemiology between the men’s and women’s competition.

Methods: Injury data was collected by medical staff from the eight men’s and women’s teams during the 2021 and 2022 competitions. Injury definitions and incidence calculations were in accordance with the updated consensus statement for methods of injury surveillance in cricket.

Results: Tournament incidence was 35.4 and 34.5/100 players/tournament in the men’s and women’s competitions, respectively. Non-time loss incidence (men’s: 25.2, women’s: 26.6/100 players/tournament) was significantly higher than time-loss (men’s: 10.2, women’s: 7.9/100 players/tournament) incidence. On average, 3.1% of men’s and 3.5% of women’s players were unavailable on any given day of the tournament. Match fielding was the activity with the highest incidence and lower limb injuries were the most common time-loss body region injured in both competitions. Match incidence was similar between the men’s (191.2/1000 days of play) and women’s (200.0/1000 days of play) competition.

Conclusion: A similar rate of injury was observed between the men’s and women’s Hundred competitions. Compared to published injury rates, ‘The Hundred’ appears to present a greater risk of injury than T20 but less than One-Day cricket.