Fast bowling, not for the faint hearted!

Two weeks back, in the Wanderers gym, a young, promising fast bowler began chatting to me about fast bowling. It's fascinating to listen to people talk about fast bowling. What's your opinion about fast bowling? Interesting question, which is not the norm in everyday life. This young man, loves the "art" of fast bowling. And it definitely is an "art". Watching the likes of our very own Proteas run in and excel in the IPL, brings chills and excitement in the tones of young aspiring South African fast bowlers voices. The master classes that Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel showed during the IPL, brought increased energy levels and excitement before a start to fitness sessions, and these debates proved a huge form of motivation. A motivation thats beginning to inspire the young and talented fast bowlers in the country. To me fast bowling is one of the toughest jobs in the world! Why would I say that? I believe to become a top class internatioal fast bowler one needs to be physically and mentally strong to take on the rigors of a busy First Class and international schedule. Firstly the physical aspect of a fast bowlers game is massive and cannot be taken lightly. As a fast bowler you will develop injuries that may keep you out of the game. The key to sustain longetivity in the game is to keep strong and place a huge emphasis on recovery. Cricketers mainly develop overuse (repetitive strain) injuries. Consider the fast bowler, whom repeats a similar action for a prolonged period of time. He not only bowls in first class cricket but also in the 50 over format, as well as in the exciting 20 over game and not to forget that in order to become consistent at the skill of fast bowling, they need to practice. Repetition and ground action forces (loading through the front foot), causes major impact forces through the front ankle, knees, hips and lower back. The most common sites of injury in fast bowlers are, lower back, ankles and soft tissues injuries in the lower limbs, i.e. hamstrings, quads, groins and calf strains and tears. Secondly, a fast bowler needs to be mentally strong as is any other discipline in the game. However due to the rigors and physical strain that the body takes a fast bowler has to be that much stronger to compete at a high intensity with fatigue and muscle soreness playing a role. Similarily, there needs to be mental strength to recover from an injury, as with any injury there will be a fear of reoccurrence initially. Look around at the international arena and notice which discipline of the game is most prone to injury. Hard work and dedication to the chosen profession of fast bowling is of utmost importance. The sight of a fast bowler charging towards a batsman and releasing a missile at 150km plus will always be a pleasurable sight for fans around the world.

Name your fittest/fastest XI currently playing the game of cricket?

Get involved and identify eleven current international cricket players that you believe are at the peak of their fitness? The caterogies are : Physical attributes, speed, athletism, longetivity (time played without being injured). It be would interesting to know your thoughts.

The Fire in Babylon

Have you ever watched this documentary of the great West Indian Cricket Team of the 70's and 80's. They were and still are agruably the best combined cricket team ever. This is a must watch and shows the progression of a team of whipping boys to a team greatly feared by the worlds best. It's was extremely interesting to view and note the emphasis Clive Lloyd had on being the fittest team to parade cricket fields around the world. Apart from being naturally fit and athletic individuals, they still worked hard at dotting the i's and crossing their t's. Even then their fearless leader understood what it took to become a dominant force. They built their team around aggressive "fast" bowlers. And to sustain their pace and fitness to play as many games as they could their bodies had to be strong. Many people believe that sports science and injury prevention has only recently evolved and been an integral part of professional cricket but this was already happening with the West Indies teams of the 70's and 80's. Ever wonder why they dominated for such a long time? And their team reminded the same for the majority of their domination. Today we are definitely more skilled in terms of injury survilience, research and general training but the essence of hard work and dedication will always prevail.

Let's get the party started

The season ended in a bit on an anti-climax, with the Bizhub Highveld Lions losing to the Titans in the Pro20 Final at the Wanderers. The only consolation was that we qualified for the Champions League for the second time in 3 years. The boys have had a bit of a break since in the final on the 1 April 2012, and will commence their preseason training on the 4 June 2012. I'm sure they will be very eager to commence training in preparation for our Indian trip in October. Where we can pit our skills against the best in world yet again, however this time in foreign conditions.