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How does Cricket stack up in terms of Fitness?

slowfinger

International Debutant
What does this mean? I find it perfectly watchable as it is to be honest.
Yeah, well, same. I can watch my way through a day of Test Cricket easily as I love cricket. But if I asked my mate to watch an 8 hour ODI with me he would probably punch me, hard.

I'm not saying shorten the formats, I'm saying make them more sizeable, and high paced.
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Fair point. Being #1 isn't the same as "dominating". As England are currently proving.

& I think England would beat the team they replaced on beep tests.
The thing is, whilst developments in sports science and so on have lead to teams in the modern day (in any sport) being fitter and better condition than those who have played in previous generations, the concept of "fitness" in sport is nothing new.

It's not like sportsmen from prior to 2000 or whatever were all fat bastards who would show up and perform, and that suddenly everyone learned in recent years that being fit makes you a better athlete. Fitness has been around as long as sport itself. I don't think you'll find a team that reached the top of their sport in a professional arena without paying heed to the benefits of being physically well attuned.
 

sledger

Spanish_Vicente
Yeah, well, same. I can watch my way through a day of Test Cricket easily as I love cricket. But if I asked my mate to watch an 8 hour ODI with me he would probably punch me, hard.

I'm not saying shorten the formats, I'm saying make them more sizeable, and high paced.
Well yes, but that's surely a case of each to his own. The length in this instance is the nature of the beast.

And if you're not suggesting the formats are shortened, what do you mean by making them "sizeable" and "high-paced". Sounds like management jargon to me.
 
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Satguru

Banned
I think for cricket to develop it needs to be more high-paced, watchable.
You want more t20s? ew :@

On topic, in general, physically, football is easily the most demanding sport because for me, two hours of continuous exertion is far more demanding on the body than a day on the field in cricket.
Mentally, though, cricket can be extremely draining, both for batsmen for obvious reasons, and for bowlers who toil away on flat pitches all day without any reasons.
On the other hand, i do believe fast bowlers need to match or maybe even surpass footballers' fitness levels to bowl long spells without breaking down. Kapil Dev is one who comes to mind whenever i think about fitness in cricket, the guy played his entire career as the workhorse of the bowling, plus was a great fielder, captained the side, and was an important lower order batsman. And he only missed one test match in his entire playing career, that too because he was inexplicably dropped. He's the perfect example of a freakishly fit cricketer.:happy:
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Yup he's insane, but he is a freak case. Cricket in general doesn't require near the cardio-levels of football, rugby etc.
Of course it does if you're a fast bowler.

It's no coincidence Doug Bollinger broke down and bowled medium pace in Adelaide whilst Anderson got better as the series went on despite flying home in the middle of the series.
 

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Well yes, but that's surely a case of each to his own. The length in this instance is the nature of the beast.

And if you're not suggesting the formats are shortened, what do you mean by making them "sizeable" and "high-paced". Sounds like management jargon to me.
Needs more synergy.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
Doesn't stack very high. Exhibit A; India.
Case closed.

Of course you CAN have cricketers with great fitness as many players do but it's clearly not a requirement to get to the top level, unlike other sports.
 
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Furball

Evil Scotsman
Doesn't stack very high. Exhibit A; India.
Case closed.

Of course you CAN have cricketers with great fitness as many players do but it's clearly not a requirement to get to the top level, unlike other sports.
That's a poor example though; because of the international nature of the sport at the highest level, if one or more of the countries involved has poor standards then you'll always get below average players playing at the top level.
 

silentstriker

The Wheel is Forever
That's a poor example though; because of the international nature of the sport at the highest level, if one or more of the countries involved has poor standards then you'll always get below average players playing at the top level.
No it's a perfect example since it shows you can win matches without being all that fit and even be the best in the world. A football team with the level of fitness that India have would be so far outside the world cup that it's not even funny.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Of course it does if you're a fast bowler.

It's no coincidence Doug Bollinger broke down and bowled medium pace in Adelaide whilst Anderson got better as the series went on despite flying home in the middle of the series.
No it doesn't.
 

Burgey

Request Your Custom Title Now!
But surely it's an enormous disadvantage to be an unfit fast bowler?
Of course it is, and much of fitness is sport specific. Merv Hughes had a gut but could bowl 15-20 overs a day. Warne wasn't "fit" in the classic sense of the word, but could bowl 25 overs in a spell if need be.

But if you're talking objective measures such as aerobic capacity, strength, beep tests etc I don't think the requirements to make it to the top in cricket are as hard as football codes.

I exclude certain NFL positions with regards aerobic fitness - they're more explosive/ size-related. Again, sport specific.
 

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