Cricket Research

Cricket Australia has become very proactive regarding research in the last five to ten years. In the past fifteen years, Australian sports scientists (particularly from the University of Western Australia) have published world-leading research on the relationship between a ‘mixed' bowling action and lumbar spine injuries in fast bowlers . Although most clinicians recognise that advising against a ‘mixed' action is probably an important preventive measure, the actual contribution of this advice to prevention of injuries is hard to determine due to the paucity of past injury surveillance. Realistically, to date the science of injury prevention in cricket is in its infancy, with very few proven risk factors and demonstrations of injury reduction . There have been few publications in the sports medicine literature regarding the epidemiology of cricket injuries. Cricket, however, is not the only sport that is in the early stages of injury prevention. A study analysing Major League Baseball insurance payments, published in 2001, stated that the amount of missed playing time through injury had steadily increased throughout the 1990s . However, because there is no published injury data in the medical literature about the specific injuries and injury risks in Major League Baseball, the authors could give very little explanation as to the cause of the rise in injuries or suggestions to reverse it.

Injury surveillance in professional cricket in Australia has been prospectively undertaken continuously since the start of the 1998-99 season. The biggest success of injury surveillance to date has been the recommendation that a boundary rope be implemented at all grounds, which was adopted by international cricket almost immediately after it was recommended in the year 2000. Since then, fielding injuries occurring due to fence collisions have disappeared. With the establishment by Cricket Australia of a research board, the injury survey will be an ongoing core component of cricket research in Australia. It will not only continue to provide a framework to highlight the most important areas which need further study, but also, in the long-term, injury surveillance can follow trends in injury rates to test the interventions which are recommended by other studies.

Cricket Australia annual injury reports

Cricket Australia 2006 injury report Sport Health version (.pdf)

Cricket Australia 2005 injury report Sport Health version (.pdf)

Cricket Australia 2004 injury report Sport Health version (.pdf)

CA 2003 injury report (Sport Health version),  media release , executive summary or to download the full report (.pdf format).

Click here to view the 2002 Injury Report in .pdf format

ACB 2001 Injury Report

ACB 2000 Injury Report

ACB 1999 Injury Report

Cricket Australia Injury Reports and papers

Cricket injury epidemiology JSAMS 2006 paper (.pdf)

International consensus definitions JSAMS version (.pdf)

Workload study in Australian cricket (J Sci Med Sport .pdf)

Murali's Doosra: technology and the law in cricket, Sport Health 2005 Spring 23(3):13-15, (.pdf)

Uncovering the secrets of The Don: Bradman reassessed. Glazier P, Davids K, Renshaw I, Button C. (.pdf)

Exact moment of a calf strain captured on video (Br J Sports Med .pdf)

Epidemiology of Australian cricket injuries (Br J Sports Med .pdf)

Who owns the information (Br J Sports Med editorial .pdf)

The trade-off between early return and risk of recurrence for muscle strains (Clin J Sports Med editorial .pdf)

The use of databases in Sports Medicine (.pdf book chapter)

The biomechanics of muscle strain injury (New Z J Sports Med .pdf)

IOC conference abstract 1999