Original paper
Fielders and batters are injured too: A prospective cohort study of injuries in junior club cricket

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2009.10.489Get rights and content

Abstract

Internationally, there is a lack of good quality, prospectively collected injury data reported for junior club cricketers. This study describes injury rates according to age level of play and playing positions in junior community-level club cricketers to identify priorities for prevention. A prospective cohort study was used to monitor injuries in 88 under 12 years (U12), 203 U14 and 120 U16 players from the Ballarat Junior Cricket Association, Australia over the 2007/2008 playing season. Injury rates were calculated per 1000 participations when batting, bowling or fielding in matches and training sessions. Injury rate ratios were used to compare rates across age levels of play and position of play. Overall, 47 injuries were reported. Injury rates increased with age level of play with only one U12 player injured. Match injury rates were 3.57 per 1000 U14 participations versus 4.80 per 1000 U16 participations. Training injury rates were 4.20 per 1000 U14 participations versus 5.11 per 1000 U16 participations. On a proportionate basis, injuries occurred equally to fielders, batters and bowlers. There was a trend towards more injuries occurring while batting and fielding in matches, and more injuries occurring while bowling and batting during training sessions. In conclusion, injury rates in junior cricket players are low, but increase with age level of play. Unlike adult forms of the game, injuries occur to fielders and batters at least as frequently as to bowlers, indicating that preventive strategies need to be developed for all junior players and not just bowlers, as has been the focus previously.

Introduction

Sport is a common context of injury for children1 and, given the potential for such injuries to have significant negative impacts,2 they are a priority for preventive attention. Unfortunately, the prevention of sports injuries in children has not received the attention it deserves because of the lack of quality and relevant information describing the magnitude and nature of this injury burden. Information about sports injury risk factors in children, in particular, is a critical knowledge need before such injuries can be prevented.3

Like many other sports undertaken by children, participation in cricket can be associated with a risk of injury. Cricket is a bat and ball team sport, which is particularly popular in Commonwealth countries with teams competing at the international level. Most information about cricket injuries relates to elite, professional or highly competitive adult levels of the game.4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Most cricket injury studies have therefore focused on fast bowlers because of their high rate of severe overuse injuries.4, 9, 10, 11, 12

Given the popularity of cricket and its known potential for injury risk,13 the lack of published studies in junior players is somewhat surprising. Five studies have focused specifically on high performance junior fast bowler squads.9, 10, 14, 15 Two other studies have described injuries in South African schoolboy cricketers collected via a survey16 and Australian junior club cricket injuries through a retrospective analysis of insurance claims.17 These latter two studies demonstrate that junior cricketers sustain proportionally more acute traumatic injuries than elite players and do not commonly sustain overuse injuries. For example, almost half of all junior cricket injuries claimed through insurance were sustained while batting and many others were caused by contact with the ball, including during fielding.17

This study reports the first prospective cohort study of injury risk in community club junior cricketers, during both matches and training sessions. It specifically examines the rates and patterns of injury across player age groups, and hence game development stages, to guide the development of future targeted prevention strategies. It was hypothesised that injury rates would increase with increasing age level of play, as players progressed towards the more adult forms of the game.

Section snippets

Methods

The study was conducted within the Ballarat Cricket Association (BCA), a large association in regional Victoria, Australia. All BCA clubs were invited to nominate junior teams of players in the Under 12 (U12), Under 14 (U14) and Under 16 (U16) competitions to participate in the study over the 2007/2008 season. A random selection of nominated teams was undertaken until a quota of 45 teams was obtained. This number of teams was based on having enough exposure hours to measure injury risk

Results

Of the 542 junior cricket players registered in the 40 study teams, 411 (76%) consented to participate. Eighty-eight players were U12 (21% of the total); 203 were U14 (49%) and 120 were U16 (29%), which is roughly proportional to the number of teams at each age level in the competition. Only six players were female.

Overall, 47 injuries were reported over the 2007/2008 season. No injury event resulted in more than one injury. Only one injury was recorded in U12 players; the U14 and U16 groups

Discussion

While comprehensive injury data exist for adult cricket,4, 5, 6 there is little information about injuries to community-level players, particularly juniors.17 This lack of data limits the extent to which clubs can identify and prioritise injury risks that could be removed by simple prevention measures. This is the first study to report prospectively collected injury data in community club-based junior cricket.

As hypothesised, the rate of injury increases (although not significantly) with age

Practical implications

  • Junior club cricket injury rates increase with playing age, as players progress towards the more adult form of the game. This is particularly the cases for bowling injuries.

  • Unlike adult cricket, injuries are common in junior batters and junior fielders, indicating the need for preventive strategies aimed at all players and not just bowlers.

Acknowledgements

This study was funded through the Injury Prevention Community Grants Program of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Caroline Finch was supported by an NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship.

The study would not have been possible without the active involvement of clubs, teams and players from the Ballarat Cricket Association. Marc Portus (Cricket Australia), John Watkin (Cricket Victoria), and Campbell Waring (Central Highlands Cricket Association) are thanked for their

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