There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the constant injuries faced by so many of Australia’s talented young fast bowlers.
Guys like Hazlewood, Pattinson and Cummins seem to have had to overcome one injury after another and it gets people talking about what could be behind all these injuries.
In some ways, it’s something that has always been there. Go back through the history of Test cricket and fast bowlers having to overcome major injuries is a regular theme.
But has it become more prevalent in more recent times? And if so, what can that be attributed to?
There are some who attribute it to the amount of cricket being played. But in many cases, these players are breaking down long before they represent Australia in all three forms of the game and play large amounts of cricket.
In Cummins’ case, you certainly couldn’t attribute his injuries to playing too much cricket.
On the flip side, there are other voices – generally voices of former fast bowlers – who have suggested that the best way to have a strong body to cope with bowling is to bowl more, not less.
If this is the case, then resting players and trying to limit their workload to protect them can actually be counter productive. In the long run the best way to strengthen their body is actually to bowl more, and more regularly.
This brings me to regulations regarding young bowlers that were brought in many years ago by Cricket Australia. Bowlers at various different ages have different restrictions in place as to how many overs they can bowl in a spell and in a day, the only exception being spin bowlers.
I’ve played senior cricket against teams largely populated by youngsters and the captain has to monitor so much with who can bowl what, and if they bowled in an under age match that morning.
Some are only allowed bowl a handful of overs in the afternoon before they reach their daily limit.
No such restrictions existed when I was that age. While I admit to never being of express pace or coming within a bull’s roar of first-class cricket, I could rip it down with decent pace in those days.
I could also bowl 12 over spells and 25 overs in an afternoon, and did so on many occasions. If I’d been playing morning and afternoon games simultaneously, then I’d have done that in the afternoon having bowled plenty in the morning as well.
These days, bowlers aren’t allowed to bowl that many overs. The reasoning is to reduce the amount of wear and tear on young, growing bodies.
Some teenage boys have really big growth spurts and struggle athletically for a while as their muscles aren’t strong enough to match their frame yet, and they need to really work on strengthening up. That happens, but the majority of teenage boys don’t have such extreme growth spurts to cause major problems in this area, and those that do can be monitored.
This, I believe, could be detrimental to physically preparing fast bowlers for the demands of first-class cricket.
Take Pat Cummins as an example. He made his first class debut as a 17 year old. As such, when playing in grade cricket, I believe he still would have been restricted as to how many overs he could bowl in a spell and in a day.
He played three Sheffield Shield matches in that 2010/11 season, culminating in the final. In the first match he bowled 24 overs in Tasmania’s first and only innings. In the second match against Western Australia he bowled 33 overs in the first and 14 in the second.
And in the final against Tasmania he bowled 48 overs in Tasmania’s first innings, adding another 17 in the second.
Over the previous couple of years, he wouldn’t have been able to get close to that amount of bowling as he was limited by Cricket Australia’s regulations aimed at protecting young fast bowlers.
Is it any wonder he suddenly starts struggling with injuries? Going from restrictions limiting his bowling as he’s developing to suddenly bowling large amounts of overs?
Is it possible that more bowling, rather than less, when he was 15, 16, 17, might have prepared him better for the rigours of first class cricket than the current tactic of wrapping him in cotton wool?
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