The lateral batting backlift technique: is it a contributing factor to success for professional cricket players at the highest level?

Background: This study aimed primarily to investigate the lateral batting backlift technique (LBBT) among semi-professional, professional and current international cricket players. A key question was to investigate whether this technique is a factor that contributes to success for cricket players at the highest levels of the game.Methods: The participants in this study’s sample (n = 130) were South African semi-professional players (SP) (n = 69), professional players (PP) (n = 49) and South African international professional players (SAI) (n = 12). Biomechanical and video analyses were performed on all the participating groups. Classifiers were utilised to identify the batting backlift technique type (BBTT) employed by all batsmen. All statistics and wagon wheels (scoring areas of the batsmen on a cricket field) were sourced online. A Pearson’s Chi-squared test, Student T-test, one-way analysis of variance and T-test were performed in this study. All analyses were performed using R (R Core Team) at a significance level of α = 0.05.Results: This study found that a LBBT is more common at the highest levels of batsmanship with batsmen at the various levels of cricket having percentages of the LBBT as follows: SP = 37%; PP = 38%; SAI = 75%; p = 0.001. There was also a noticeably higher difference in the highest scores and career averages between all groups of players, as well as batsmen who either use a straight batting backlift technique (SBBT) or a LBBT. This study also found that SAI batsmen who used the LBBT were more proficient at scoring runs in various areas around the cricket field (according to the wagon wheel analysis).Conclusion: This study found that a LBBT is a contributing factor for success regarding players wanting to play cricket at the highest levels. Cricket coaches should also pay attention to the direction of the backlift with players, especially when correlating it to various scoring areas on the cricket field. Further in-depth research is required to fully investigate the change in batting backlift techniques among cricket players over a long-term period. Keywords: video analysis, biomechanics, coaching, optimising performanc

A prospective study of the incidence and nature of injuries to adult rugby players.

The incidence and nature of injuries occurring in 8 adult club rugby teams was followed prospectively during the 1988 rugby season. The findings were compared with those from two similar studies in schoolboy rugby players. A total of 114 injuries were sustained by 78 players; 85% of injuries occurred during matches. Injury was most prevalent during the first 8 weeks of the season and again after the mid-season break. Hookers (19%), wings (15%), fullbacks (11%) and centres (10%) were the players most often injured. Injury occurred most commonly when the player was tackled (26%), during open play (21%) and during the loose scrum 17%). Muscles (33%) and ligaments (32%) were the anatomical strutures most often injured. Injury caused 35% of injured players to miss more than 35 days of rugby. Thirteen percent of injured players did not play again for the rest of the season and only 14% of injured players returned to rugby after 7 days or less. Prolonged disability was associated with ligament injuries (57%), dislocations (17%) and fractures (10%)

Inadequate pre-season preparation of schoolboy rugby players - a survey of players at 25 Cape Province high schools

Objective. To establish the previous rugby experience, the knowledge and the use of  injury prevention techniques by South African schoolboy rugby players.Design. Before the first full-contact match of the 1991 rugby season, 2 330 players  completed a detailed questionnaire.Setting. I-!igh schools in the Cape Province. Three thousand three hundred and  thirty players from 25 schools selected because of a record of excellence in and commitment to schoolboy rugby.Main outcome measures. Personal data including age, height, mass and rugby  experience; history and nature of previous rugby injuries; knowledge of techniques  known to prevent rugby injuries; parental and personal reasons for playing rugby.Results. The incidence and distribution of the different types of injuries previously  sustained by the players were the same as those identified prospectively in the  same population. A-team players were significantly heavier and taller than players in lower teams in most playing positions in most age groups. Although A-team  players were more likely to participate in pre-season endurance or strength training, fewer than 40% of players overall trained adequately in the pre-season. Less than 30 minutes was allocated to the practice of tackJing and falling techniques prior to the first full-contact match. Knowledge of different high-risk situations during play was generally sketchy, and only 24% of players wore gumguards all the time. Morefathers (84%) than mothers (63%) encouraged their sons to play rugby.Conclusions. The resutts indicate that the incidence and nature of the injuries reported retrospectively were similar to those reported in prospective studies at the same schools. The players' knowledge of techniques known to prevent rugby injuries was inadequate and too little attention was paid at the start of the rugby season totraining and coaching techniques to reduce injury risk. Coaching errors may  therefore have predisposed players to injury

Evaluation of true maximal oxygen uptake based on a novel set of standardized criteria

In this study, criteria are used to identify whether a subject has elicited maximal oxygen uptake. We evaluated the validity of traditional maximal oxygen uptake criteria and propose a novel set of criteria. Twenty athletes completed a maximal oxygen uptake test, consisting of an incremental phase and a subsequent supramaximal phase to exhaustion (verification phase). Traditional and novel maximal oxygen uptake criteria were evaluated. Novel criteria were: oxygen uptake plateau defined as the difference between modelled and actual maximal oxygen uptake >50% of the regression slope of the individual oxygen uptake-workrate relationship; as in the first criterion, but for maximal verification oxygen uptake; and a difference of [less than or equal to]4 beats x [min.sup.-1] between maximal heart rate values in the 2 phases. Satisfying the traditional oxygen uptake plateau criterion was largely an artefact of the between-subject variation in the oxygen uptake-workrate relationship. Secondary criteria, supposedly an indicator of maximal effort, were often satisfied long before volitional exhaustion, even at intensities as low as 61% maximal oxygen uptake. No significant mean differences were observed between the incremental and verification phases for oxygen uptake (t = 0.4; p = 0.7) or heart rate (t = 0.8; p = 0.5). The novel oxygen uptake plateau criterion, maximal oxygen uptake verification criterion, and maximal heart rate verification criterion were satisfied by 17, 18, and 18 subjects, respectively. The small individual absolute differences in oxygen uptake between incremental and verification phases observed in most subjects provided additional confidence that maximal oxygen uptake was elicited. Current maximal oxygen uptake criteria were not valid and novel criteria should be further explored

The effect of carbohydrate ingestion on the motor skill proficiency of soccer players

This study examined the effects of ingesting a glucose-polymer (GP) solution on the motor skill proficiencies of association football (soccer) players from two teams playing during two matches in a cool environment. Fifteen minutes before each match and at halftime, players from both teams ingested 5 ml/kg of either placebo or a 6.9% GP solution. GP ingestion did not improve tackling, heading, dribbling, or shooting ability. On the contrary, the mean of successful tackles was lower with GP ingestion than with placebo. The success rate for heading, dribbling, and shooting also tended to be lower in the GP than in the placebo condition. In contrast, success in passing and ball control was similar in the two conditions. Improvements in passing and ball control may have been related to a decrease in the intensity of play in the second half of the game. These data indicate that there are no measurable benefits of GP ingestion for the motor skill proficiencies of soccer players during games played in a cool environment.IS

Water relations of mosses from maritime Antarctic cryptogamic fellfields

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:DX172354 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Book Reviews

Book Review 1Book Title: ABC of Sports MedicineBook Authors: Greg McLatchie, Mark Harries, John King & Clyde Williams (Eds.)Pp. vii + 109. Illustrated. London: BMJ. 1995. ISBN 0-7279-0844-8.Book Review 2Book Title: Alternatives to AntibioticsBook Author: John McKennaPp. 160. Illustrated. Cape Town: Struik Publishers. 1996. ISBN 1-86872-007-1