How do you know if you are ready for the cricket season? See how you compare to the Professionals with these 5 tests for your cricket fitness.
In this post, we will discuss 5 tests to measure 5 essential fitness attributes of the modern-day cricketer, the 5 attributes we will discuss are:
Speed- Useful for running in the field and between the wickets.
Endurance- Vital for keeping performance and concentration levels high in every aspect of the game.
Power- Very useful for clearing the ropes and throwing powerfully.
Agility- Primarily useful in the field but changing speed and direction is also useful when running between the wickets.
Mental Fitness-Closely linked to physical endurance, having better mental fitness will allow for better decision-making, execution of skills and concentration throughout a match.
The tests we have chosen are easy to set up with basic equipment, we have detailed the necessary equipment, the attribute being measured, as well as how the test works.
The "run two" - Measures speed and agility in a cricket-specific way.
The test involves "running a two" which means running from one crease line to the other and back again (two lengths of the pitch) with a bat in hand, the aim is to complete this as quickly as possible.
Professional Time: Johnny Bairstow-5.83 Seconds
Equipment: Cones or cricket pitch, a bat, a person to time you, or you can video yourself and time from that.
2. The Yo-Yo Test- Measures Endurance in a cricket-specific manner, there are other endurance tests like the bleep test, however, the yo-yo test fits the rhythm of cricket better given its stop-start nature.
The aim of this test is to complete the full distance before the second beep, progressively getting faster and faster till you cannot run any longer. The fact it involves intense exercise and then rest makes it similar to the pattern of cricket, Instead of just running continuously.
Professional Score: Virat Kohli-19.0, Alistair Cook-22.3 (one of the highest ever)
Equipment: Cones and a phone with speaker/earphones.
You can see a Yo-yo test in the video below.
3. The Standing Jump- Measures Power.
The aim of this test is simply to jump as high as you can. You can use a professional measure like the one in the picture above if you have one at your gym (don't buy one, they are far too expensive). I find using a wall, a pencil, or sticky notes the easiest way to measure the distance. Stand next to the wall and stick your first sticky note on the wall as high as you can reach without jumping, then jump as high as possible and stick the second sticky note on the wall above it, then measure the distance between the two.
Professional Distance: David Willey-59.6 Cm
Equipment: A wall, sticky notes or pencil and a ruler.
4. Illinois Agility test- Measures agility.
This Test involves running from cone to cone as shown in the diagram above, this tests agility by forcing changes in speed and direction.
Professional Time:
Equipment: Cones, someone to time you, or you can video yourself and see the time from that.
5. Concentration test- Mental Fitness and Resilience.
We have found this concentration test is a good marker of how mentally fit you are. It measures your focus ability specifically, which is vital for every cricketer, and this ability to focus throughout an innings is what marks out the great batsmen.
Professional Score: We estimate the professionals would score anywhere from 90th to 100th percentile on this test. Professionals are able to concentrate for long periods, especially towards the end of an innings under physical fatigue. This is the standard to aspire to, switching off between balls and longer training sessions can help with this.
Equipment: Computer or Phone
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