Question about bowling over a season

[rodk]

I am new to cricket, and since I'm from the US, I am using baseball as a comparable going to the ultimate issue of injuries.

I recently tracked the Australia team visit to England last summer, and in particular the performance of Mitchell Starc, whom I understand to be a star of the game. He had a lot of overs during the trip and I am wondering if, for a player of that stature, it was too much, too little or about what one would expect, and I am wondering about bowling days in a row followed by long layoffs, and if there was any special risk of injury from this kind of performance.

Here's the data I compiled, with each column's info. I note that a nice chart won't come out in the final post so please forgive.

Dates Match type Opponent 1st innings overs 2nd innings overs Total overs
June 25-28 1st class Kent DNP DNP -
July 1-4 1st class Essex 20 8 28
July 8-11 Ashes test England 24 16 40
July 16-19 Ashes test England 22 7 29
July 23-25 1st class Derby DNP DNP -
July 29-Aug 2 Ashes test England 16 6 22
Aug 6-10 Ashes test England 27 DNP 27
Aug 14-16 1st class Northampton DNP DNP -
Aug 20-24 Ashes test England 8 16 24
Aug 27 ODI/24 overs
after rain Ireland 5 DNP 5
Aug 31 T20I England 4 DNP 4
Sept 3 ODI England 10 DNP 10
Sept 5 ODI England 7 DNP 7
Sept 8 ODI England 10 DNP 10
Sept 11 ODI England DNP DNP -
Sept 13 ODI England 9 DNP 9

12 matches
in 80 days various 211

Thanks.

A major league starting pitcher would throw more or less the same number of pitches over an 11 week span, but he would rarely have long layoffs in between appearances if uninjured.

 

[cnerd123]

I am wondering if, for a player of that stature, it was too much, too little or about what one would expect, and I am wondering about bowling days in a row followed by long layoffs, and if there was any special risk of injury from this kind of performance.

No straightforward answer. All depends on the player's physique, what kind of loads his actions places on it, what his injury record is, and what niggles and injuries he is dealing with at the time. Some bowlers are known to be workhorse, capable of getting through a lot of overs consistently without breaking down, while some are more fragile.

Most bowlers are more injury prone coming in cold, so they generally bowl a good amount in the nets and in lower level cricket before returning to the higher level.

 

[rodk]

No straightforward answer. All depends on the player's physique, what kind of loads his actions places on it, what his injury record is, and what niggles and injuries he is dealing with at the time.

What kind of injuries do bowlers end up with? I was told by someone with a lot of experience in world cricket that bowlers don't end up with the kinds of shoulder or elbow injuries that plague baseball pitchers and that surgery for such injuries is virtually unheard of. Instead, he said that bowlers have back and spinal problems.

Is that the experience that the people on this board have too? Thanks.

 

[91Jmay]

Knee, ankle and foot injuries as well as the dreaded stress fractures I would venture are the most common.