Abstract
Introduction and Purpose: There is limited evidence regarding injury risk within elite male academy cricket, especially non-time loss injuries experienced by this population. The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of time-loss and non-time loss injuries in elite male academy cricket.
Materials and Methods: Annual incidence and prevalence of all cricket-related injuries were calculated for 348 male academy players (under-13 to under-18) from the 18 First Class County Cricket academies in England and Wales across four years (2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21 and 2021/22), in accordance with the updated consensus statement for injury surveillance in cricket.
Results: The average annual injury incidence was 115.0 injuries/100 players/year, with no difference between time-loss (59.7 injuries/100 players/year) and non-time loss injury incidence (55.3 injuries/100 players/year). On average, 8.5% of players were unavailable on any given day of the year due to injury. Match injury incidence (48.8 injuries/100 players/year) was significantly higher than cricket-based training (25.2 injuries/100 players/year), illness, gym-based training, and ‘other’ injury incidence. Match bowling was the activity associated with the highest total (17.7 injuries/100 players/year), time-loss (10.3 injuries/100 players/year) and non-time loss (7.4 injuries/100 players/year) injury incidence (Figure 1). The lumbar spine was the body location most frequently injured (15.3 injuries/100 players/year) and was the most prevalent body location injured (2.9% of players).
Conclusion: The findings from this study provide, for the first time, robust evidence of the extent of the injury problem in elite male academy cricketers. Bowling poses the great risk to players and the lumbar spine is the most common injury location.
Materials and Methods: Annual incidence and prevalence of all cricket-related injuries were calculated for 348 male academy players (under-13 to under-18) from the 18 First Class County Cricket academies in England and Wales across four years (2017/18, 2018/19, 2020/21 and 2021/22), in accordance with the updated consensus statement for injury surveillance in cricket.
Results: The average annual injury incidence was 115.0 injuries/100 players/year, with no difference between time-loss (59.7 injuries/100 players/year) and non-time loss injury incidence (55.3 injuries/100 players/year). On average, 8.5% of players were unavailable on any given day of the year due to injury. Match injury incidence (48.8 injuries/100 players/year) was significantly higher than cricket-based training (25.2 injuries/100 players/year), illness, gym-based training, and ‘other’ injury incidence. Match bowling was the activity associated with the highest total (17.7 injuries/100 players/year), time-loss (10.3 injuries/100 players/year) and non-time loss (7.4 injuries/100 players/year) injury incidence (Figure 1). The lumbar spine was the body location most frequently injured (15.3 injuries/100 players/year) and was the most prevalent body location injured (2.9% of players).
Conclusion: The findings from this study provide, for the first time, robust evidence of the extent of the injury problem in elite male academy cricketers. Bowling poses the great risk to players and the lumbar spine is the most common injury location.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 5 Oct 2023 |
| Event | British Association of Sport & Exercise Medicine (BASEM) - Manchester, UK United Kingdom Duration: 5 Oct 2023 → 6 Oct 2023 |
Conference
| Conference | British Association of Sport & Exercise Medicine (BASEM) |
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| Country/Territory | UK United Kingdom |
| Period | 5/10/23 → 6/10/23 |