Fielding specific walk/run patterns in English professional Cricket

Abstract

Incricket research,players are typically categorizedby role. However, players of a certain role, for instance fast bowlers may not consistently field in the same positionwhich leadsto inaccurate representations of the physical demands of fielding. To identify fielding specific movement demandsacross three cricket formats(4 multi-day, 6 one day, 4 T20),14 professional male cricketershadpositional movements determinedwith10Hz Optimeye S5 (Catapult, Melbourne, Australia) global positioningsystem (GPS)units. Players observed fielding in 35 common cricket locations were described as either being in a stationary catching, 30m ring or boundary position. Data were totalled inmovement velocities bands: Walking (<7 km/h), Jogging (7 -15 km/h),Striding (15 -20 km/h), High speed running (20-25 km/h), Sprinting (> 25 km/h), and further classified intolow intensity running (walking and jogging) or high intensity running (HIR).The HIR running was significantly different for each fielding position within each game format. Boundary fielders covered the most HIR distance per hour (930 ± 1085 m/h) in One day compared to multi-day (889 ± 435 m/h) and Twenty20 (T20) (628 ± 438 m/h) formats. Similarly, 30m ringfieldersalso covered relatively greater distance in the One day format (594 ± 286 m/h) compared to multi-day and T20 formats (227± 345, 170 ± 165 m/h) respectively. The catching positions had similar hourly demands between Multi-day (370 ± 291 m/h) and One day (385 ± 342 m/h) formats. This study identifies that the boundary positions havethe greatestHIR demands across all three cricket formats. When setting a field,captains should be mindful not only of position-specific skill requirements, but also of movement speed, fitness characteristics and within-session recovery needs of players. This information is able to better inform cricket’s physical preparation coaches and tacticians.