Accelerometery and Heart Rate Responses of Professional Fast-Medium Bowlers in One-Day and Multi-Day Cricket

James A Johnstone; Gerwyn Hughes; Andrew C Mitchell; Paul A Ford; Tim Watson; Rob Duffield; Dan Gordon; Justin D Roberts; Andrew T Garrett

Accelerometery and Heart Rate Responses of Professional Fast-Medium Bowlers in One-Day and Multi-Day Cricket

J Sports Sci Med. 2017 Aug 8;16(3):311-317. eCollection 2017 Sep.

Authors

James A Johnstone¹, Gerwyn Hughes², Andrew C Mitchell³, Paul A Ford⁴, Tim Watson², Rob Duffield⁵, Dan Gordon¹, Justin D Roberts¹, Andrew T Garrett⁶

Affiliations

¹ The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, UK.
² Dept. of Kinesiology, University of San Francisco, USA.
³ School of Sport Science and Physical Activity, University of Bedfordshire, UK.
⁴ British Olympic Association, London, UK.
⁵ Sport and Exercise Discipline Group, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, AUS.
⁶ Department of Sport, Health and Exercise, University of Hull, UK.

PMID: 28912647
PMCID: PMC5592281

Abstract

The physical demands of fast-medium bowling are increasingly being recognised, yet comparative exploration of the differing demands between competitive formats (i.e. one-day [OD] versus multi-day [MD] matches) remain minimal. The aim of this study was to describe in-match physiological profiles of professional fast-medium bowlers from England across different versions of competitive matches using a multivariable wearable monitoring device. Seven professional cricket fast-medium bowlers wore the Bioharness^TM monitoring device during matches, over three seasons (>80 hours in-match). Heart Rate (HR) and Acceleromety (ACC) was compared across match types (OD, MD) and different in-match activity states (Bowling, Between over bowling, Fielding). Peak acceleration during OD bowling was significantly higher in comparison to MD cricket ([OD vs. MD] 234.1 ± 57.9 vs 226.6 ± 32.9 ct·episode^-1, p < 0.05, ES = 0.11-0.30). Data for ACC were also higher during OD than MD fielding activities (p < 0.01, ES = 0.11-.30). OD bowling stimulated higher mean HR responses (143 ± 14 vs 137 ± 16 beats·min^-1, p < 0.05, ES = 0.21) when compared to MD matches. This increase in OD cricket was evident for both between over (129 ± 9 vs 120 ± 13 beats·min^-1,p < 0.01, ES = 0.11-0.50) and during fielding (115 ± 12 vs 106 ± 12 beats·min^-1, p < 0.01, ES = 0.36) activity. The increased HR and ACC evident in OD matches suggest greater acute physical loads than MD formats. Therefore, use of wearable technology and the findings provided give a valuable appreciation of the differences in match loads, and thus required physiological preparation and recovery in fast-medium bowlers.

Keywords: Wearable monitoring; in-match data; physiological profiles; technology.