Injuries in England and Wales elite men's domestic cricket: A nine season review from 2010 to 2018

Abstract

Objectives: This study primarily aimed to explore injury incidence rates in the three main domestic competition formats in England and Wales (First-Class, One-Day and Twenty20 [T20]). For the first time, the study also describes the epidemiology of elite men's domestic cricket injuries across nine seasons (2010-2018 inclusive).

Design: Prospective cohort analysis.

Methods: Injury incidence and prevalence from all injuries calculated according to the updated international consensus statement on injury surveillance in cricket, with statistical process control charts (SPC) used to detect trends in the data.

Results: The average match injury incidence was 102 injuries/1000 days of play, with highest incidence in One-Day (254 injuries/1000 days of play), followed by T20 (136 injuries/1000 days of play) and First-Class Cricket (68 injuries/1000 days of play). Most match injuries were sustained during bowling (41.6 injuries/1000 days of play), followed by fielding (26.8 injuries/1000 days of play) and batting (22.3 injuries/1000 days of play). The thigh was the body area most commonly injured (7.4 injuries/100 players per season), with lumbar spine injuries the most prevalent (1.3% of players unavailable on any given day during the season). On average, 7.5% of players were unavailable on any given day during the domestic season when all injuries were considered (match and training). The SPC charts showed relatively consistent match injury incidence for all competitions, reproduced across all nine seasons.

Conclusion: These findings provide a robust empirical base for the extent of the injury problem in domestic cricket played in England and Wales, with similar injury profiles across the three formats.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Incidence; Prevalence; Sports.