Orchard JW, et al. – This trial entailed an exploration of the incidence and prevalence of elite male cricket injuries. It was determined that hamstring strain was the most common injury in the sport at the elite level. It appeared to be related to increased T20 cricket. Lumbar stress fractures in fast bowlers were the most prevalent injury in this sport. However, these injuries correlated with high workloads due to longer forms of the game. Very similar match injury incidence rates were noted in domestic and international matches, across the formats. Nevertheless, injury prevalence appeared to be higher in international players as they played for most of the year without a significant off–season.

Methods

• An estimation was performed of the injury incidence and prevalence rates through the new international methods and units for elite senior male Australian cricketers, over the past decade (season 2006-2007 to season 2015-2016 inclusive).

Results

• An average match injury incidence, for match time-loss injuries, was 155 injuries/1,000 days of play, with the highest daily rates in 50-over cricket, followed by 20-over cricket and First-Class matches, over the past 10 seasons.
• Annual injury incidence was 64 injuries/100 players per season, and average annual injury prevalence was 12.5% (although fast bowlers averaged 20.6%, much higher than other positions).
• It was reported that the most common injury was the hamstring strain (seasonal incidence 8.7 injuries/100 players per season).
• The most prevalent injury was determined as lumbar stress fractures (1.9% of players unavailable at all times owing to these injuries, which represented 15% of all missed playing time).