The effects of modified-implement warm-ups on cricket pace-bowling skill

Purpose: This study investigated the acute warm-up effects of modified-implement bowling on bowling speed, accuracy, perceived rhythm and perceived sensation with a regular ball. Methods: A total of 13 male amateur pace bowlers completed 3 sessions in a randomized, counterbalanced order. Each session comprised a warm-up of 21 progressive-effort deliveries with either a regular (156 g), 10% heavier (171.6 g), or 10% lighter (140.4 g) cricket ball followed by a 4-over pace-bowling assessment with a regular ball. Bowling speed was assessed with a radar gun, while accuracy was calculated via the radial error. Subjects rated their perceived exertion (0%–100%), rhythm (1–5 Likert scale), and sensation (1–5 Likert scale) after each delivery. Results: The linear mixed models revealed a significant effect for warm-up condition on perceived delivery sensation (F2,916.404 = 24.137, P &lt; .001), with a significant pairwise difference between the regular- and heavier-ball warm-up conditions of 0.20 ± 0.07 points (estimated marginal mean ± 95% confidence interval, P &lt; .001). There were no statistically significant effects for warm-up condition on bowling speed, accuracy, and perceived delivery rhythm. Conclusions: These findings indicate that although the regular ball felt lighter to bowl with after using the heavier ball, there were no overall potentiating or detrimental effects of using this particular modified-implement warm-up on bowling speed, accuracy, and perceived rhythm in amateur pace bowlers. Future research is encouraged to trial other protocols for eliciting potentiation to ultimately enhance bowling speed in training or in shorter match formats (eg, Twenty20).</jats:p

Analysis of Thermal-Regulation and Comfort Associated with User Perceptions and Garment Performance

This study is designed to understand post-exercise comfort perceptions by exploring the relationship between users and garments. Influenced by new technologies from fibres, manufacturing techniques, and surface coatings athletic apparel is changing. These technologies can influence the quality of daily pursuits, and by assessing psychological and physiological responses to physical activity, it&rsquo;s possible to optimise garment performance. To that end, this paper presents a qualitative and quantitative analysis of thermal regulation and comfort perceptions within a controlled laboratory environment. A group of eleven healthy athletic female participants performed a twenty-minute high-intensity interval training running session (HIIT) and subsequent transition activity period. Participants had vitals monitored and were periodically prompted with specific questions to gauge their perceptions of effort, temperature, exertion, and comfort. The results suggest that perceptual differences are minor when evaluating apparel design during high-intensity exercise, and perhaps the efforts of garment design optimization would be best placed in an immediately subsequent activity type