External workload intensity in cricket fast bowlers across maximal and submaximal intensities: Modifying PlayerLoad and IMU location

ABSTRACT

Workload is a commonly accepted risk factor for injury among fast bowlers, however many methods exist to characterise workload. Recently, automated intensity-sensitive measures like PlayerLoad have been used to improve the estimation of workload in fast bowlers. The purpose of this study was to determine whether similar variables could be extracted from a single inertial measurement unit (IMU) that highly correlate with intensity, according to release speed. Eight elite and pre-elite bowlers participated in the study, with each bowler bowling one over each at 60%, 80% and 100% intensity and repeating this across two sessions (36 balls per participant). IMUs were placed on the upper-back and non-bowling wrist and maximum PlayerLoad from each delivery (PL_max) was compared to the accumulated value across each delivery (PL_acc). The strongest correlation with release speed was with PL_acc from the non-bowling wrist (R = 0.74), followed by PL_acc from the upper-back (R = 0.65) and PL_max from the upper back (R = 0.60). Consequently, an improved estimation of the intensity at which bowlers are working at could be gained by examining accumulated PlayerLoad values from an IMU on the non-bowling wrist.

KEYWORDS:

• Workload
• cricket
• fast bowling

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Nigel Barrett for technical support and assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Peak longitudinal acceleration on a bowling wrist sensor exceeded the limits of the IMUs and was, therefore, excluded from the analysis.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.