Strength and Conditioning: Needs Analysis for Cricket Performance

This report presents a comprehensive needs analysis for a 26-year-old male cricketer, evaluating key physical attributes essential for the sport. The analysis includes a warm-up plan followed by a series of tests, including speed, flexibility (sit and reach), coordination, and reaction time (ruler drop). Each test's procedure, results, and interpretation are detailed, highlighting the athlete's strengths and weaknesses. The report assesses speed using 20m, 40m, and 60m sprints, flexibility through the sit-and-reach test, coordination via a ball-catching exercise, and reaction time using a ruler drop test. The findings reveal areas where the athlete excels, such as flexibility, and areas requiring improvement, such as speed and reaction time. The report concludes by suggesting training techniques to enhance performance, including reaction balls, concentration exercises, general fitness improvements, and specialized drills, providing a practical guide for sports scientists and coaches to develop tailored training programs.

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STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
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Introduction
The need to prevent injury and enhance the performance of an athlete is the fundamental
objectives of a needs analysis. Through a needs analysis, the qualities that are required of an
athlete, the sport or the two can be determined. A sports scientist can identify the physical
qualities that are necessary for his athlete to enable him to manage good performance only
through an in-depth needs analysis (Abrahamson, 2010, p.415). It is important that needs
analysis be conducted before the training program is designed.
From this analysis, the coach or the sports scientist would be able to gain access to important
information including the profile of the athlete currently, the sports demands and any needs that
the athlete would have in order to manage a successful sport. A proper understanding of these
three pieces of information helps the athlete in coming up with an effective and appropriate
training program that would see the athletes improve their performance (Jeffreys, 2016, p.178).
For the purposes of this task, a needs analysis of cricket is done to determine the fitness of a 26-
year old man of soundman to playing cricket. Among the physical attributes that are fundamental
in crickets, include;
 Strong and stable trunk
 Force control
 Strength of the lower limbs
 Accelerated speed
 Specific and general conditioning
 High mobility of the hip and thoracic spine, among other attributes

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The various test conducted in this research include speed test, flexibility test, coordination test,
reaction time test, strength test, endurance test among other tests. Each of the tests was carried
out independently with the athlete subject to various procedures and the responses used in
determining his fitness for the quality under test. Below is the warm-up plan for test 1 and test 2:
 Forward skip 10- 15 reps for each leg
 Backward skip10-15 reps for each leg
 Lateral side slide with arm swing -10 reps for both side
 Punter kicks-10 reps for each leg
 Lung with upper body twist-10 reps for each leg
 High knee-10 reps for each leg
 Dynamic Cat stretching and flat back for ten reps
Test 1: Speed test- Ability to move at very high speed, accelerate and agile are very vital in
cricket. These attributes are most useful in the fielding and movement between wickets.
The time taken for the athlete to cross the finishing line of a 20-meter straight section was
recorded, and this test repeated three times so as to establish higher accuracy values. The test
procedure is as illustrated:
Procedure:
 Marks out a 20-meter straight section on the outdoor grass track with cones
 Athlete readies on the start-line (positioned 0.3m behind the first gates – cones A) in a
standing split-stance start position & participant always uses the same starting stance.
 Counted down ‘3 – 2 – 1 – GO

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 Use the timing gates
 The athlete sprints as fast as possible over the 20 meters
 Record time as the athletes crosses the finishing line and records the time
 The test is conducted three times
 Repeat the procedure above but this time using 40m, then 60m sprints. Compare the average
time taken to complete all the three sprints proportionately.
 5 minutes rest after completing each sprint
Of all the three attempts of this test, the fastest recorded time of the athlete is 4.5 seconds. This
shows a very slow speed. Some of the very fast cricketers can cover the same distance in less
than 3 seconds. It is apparent from the test that the participant is unable to maintain high-speed
motion that is required in movement between wickets and fielding. While arranging for training
programs that are involving the athlete, the sports scientist would, therefore, make the necessary
arrangements that would see the athlete improve in his area of weakness.
The athlete takes proportionately shorter durations to cross the 60m finishing line as compared to
the 20m finishing line. This would be translated to mean the athlete picks up progressively as he
runs. The longer the distance the athlete would need to cover, the relatively shorter time he
would spend. This means the athlete would be good and successful in games that are done over
long distances. He may not manage to do short range games.
Test 2: Sit and Reach Flexibility test-This test is used in the determination of the flexibility of
an athlete more specifically the flexibility of the muscles of the lower back and the hamstring.
The test is important since tightness is implicated in lumbar lordosis, lower back pain and
forward pelvic tilt (Abrahamson, 2010, p.30). The procedure of the test is as shown below;

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Test Procedure:-
 A ruler to the box top with the tape so that the front edge of the box lines up with the
15cm (6 inches) mark on the ruler and the zero end of the ruler points towards the athlete
 The athlete sits on the floor with their legs fully extended with the bottom of their bare
feet against the box
 The athlete places one hand on top of the other, slowly bends forward and reaches along
the top of the ruler as far as possible holding the stretch for two seconds
 Records the distance reached by the athlete fingertips (cm)
 The athlete performs the test three times
 Then calculates and records the average of the three distances
Cool down plan upon completion of test1 and test 2
 Jog on the spot for 60 seconds
 Both Shoulders stretches using another hand 30 seconds for each shoulder
 30 seconds Side bend stretches for each side
 Standing quadriceps stretching 15 seconds for each side
 Shoulder stretches using another hand 30 seconds for each shoulder
 Arm swings with forward bending to standing position with breathing in and out-just 2 to
3 reps
 Shoulder roll 3-4 reps then relax

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The athlete was instructed to fully extend his legs in such a way that the bottom of their bare feet
against the box. He is asked to bend forward and reach out to the top of the ruler as far as he can.
On the first attempt, the athlete gets to 3.5 inches while on the second attempt a record of 3.8
inches is obtained (Read, 2014, p.145). The maximum distance reached by the fingers of the
participant was recorded to be 3.8 inches, which is also achieved during the third attempt. The
average of the results of the three attempts is got by;
(3.5+3.8+3.8)=3.7 inches
This score illustrated the high flexibility of the participant. This is in comparison with the
maximum reachable distance of the test box which 15 cm or 6 inches. The athlete manages to
record above average flexibility in all the tests.
Warm up plan for test 3
 Jogging for 5 minutes
 Butt kickers-30 sec
 High knee -30 sec
 Punter kicks-10 reps for each leg
Test 3: Coordination test: This tends determination the level of coordination between the hands
and the eyes. It determines the reaction and peripheral vision of the athletes (Robinson, 2015,
p.345). The test procedure is as shown:
Procedure
 The athlete stands two meters away from a smooth wall
 Gives the command "GO" and starts the stopwatch

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 The athlete throws a tennis ball with their right hand against the wall and catches it with
the left hand, throws the ball with the left hand and catches it with the right hand. This
cycle of throwing and catching is repeated for 30 seconds
 Counts the number of catches and stops the test after 30 seconds (Schumaker, 2010, p.11)
 Records the number of catches
The athlete makes ten successful catches. A greater number of catches caught within a short
while indicates high coordination between the eyes and the hands. It this test and result, the
performance of the athlete can be concluded to be average (Passos, 2016, p.332). The athlete
manages a significant number of catches. This attribute can as well be improved with practice.
As the athlete does more practice, he would be able to have a good correlation and coordination
between his hands and his eyes. High coordination means higher performance as it would see the
athlete always hitting the target as expected (Pyke, 2010, p.45).
Cool down plan after test 3
 Jumping jack for 30 seconds
 Jogging in place for 30 seconds
 Standing toe touch kick for 30 seconds
 Side lunges for 30 seconds
Ruler drop test (Reaction time): The reaction drop test is to evaluate how fast one is able to
react. This is important is cricket as it helps the athlete is containing or controlling the sports.
The faster the athlete is able to react, the better.
Procedure:

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 The ruler is held between the outstretched index finger and thumb of the athlete's
dominant hand so that the top of the athlete's thumb is level with the zero centimetre line
on the ruler (Bhatnagar, 2013, p.564)
 Instructs the athlete to catch the ruler as soon as possible after it has been released
 Releases the ruler and the athlete catches the ruler between their index finger and thumb
as quick as possible
 Record distance between the bottom of the ruler and the top of the athlete's thumb where
the ruler has been caught
 The test is repeated two more times and the average value used in the assessment
The athlete caught the ruler at the 8 cm mark on the first attempt. The second and third attempts
returned 12 cm and 9 cm respectively. Using these obtained results, the average performance in
the test is determined as follows;
(8+12+9)/3=9.7cm
From these results, it is notable that the athlete has a very slow reaction time and takes relatively
along time to react. This would make it very hard for him to easily get control of the sport, as he
would be missing numerous opportunities to the opponent (Harfield, 2011, p.221). The athlete
and the coach or the sports scientist can engage in various training programs to see the athlete
improve. Among the techniques that the athlete can deploy in order to enhance his performance
include;
 Reaction ball: Using a reaction ball in which the athlete bats or fields with the ball can
help in enhancing his performance as with regard to improving the reaction time.

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 Concentration: During the test, the athlete was seemingly not concentrative on the test
and at some point had to run after the ruler long enough after it has been released. This
definitely lowers the reaction time. The athlete can ensure he concentrates on the task he
is undertaking be it during training sessions or when playing sports (Niebauer, 2017,
p.369).
By focusing on the task, the athlete is able to significantly improve his reaction time.
Important to note is that the level of concentration decrease as the length of time is
increasing. It is thus vital that the athlete practices this technique only to his capacity so
as not to get to worse results due to prolonged concentration.
 Getting fit: General body fitness has been found to be a facilitator of reaction time. The
athlete may thus consider going for the gym in order to improve the general body fitness
(Price, 2011, p.569).
 Doubling up: This involves having two balls instead of one. The two balls are held by a
friend who throws them simultaneously and asks the athlete to get hold of a specific
colour. The friend would drop the balls, not in any order and ask the athlete to get hold of
the one he has chosen.
Crunch Test: This is a sit-up test used in the measurement of the endurance of the abdominal
muscles. It is also called curl up test (Ashok, 2010, p.60). The test is done to determine the
strength and endurance of the muscles of the abdomen and hip-flexors. This is important in core
stability and back support when playing crickets.

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Procedure
 The athlete lies on a mat with the knees bent perpendicularly, the feet held flat on the
ground and held down by the instructor
 Interlock the fingers behind the head
 The athlete raises the chest on the command GO such that the upper body is vertical
 Return to the floor
 In every sit up the athlete must return the back until it touches the floor
 The athlete does this for thirty seconds (Abrahamson, 2010, p.136)
 The maximum number of successfully completed sit up is recorded and used for
assessment. In case the athlete does not manage a vertical position on a sit up, arches or
bows the back and raise the buttocks off the ground or does not interlock the fingers
behind the head, the attempt is considered unsuccessful. Letting the knees go beyond a
90-degree angle as well disqualifies a test result.
The results from this task revealed that the athlete had very strong and enduring abdominal
muscles and hip-flexors. From the data obtained, he managed ten successful sit up within the
provided thirty seconds. The athlete thus meets the standard core stability and back support that
is necessary for successful performance in crickets. The functioning of the abdomen and stability
of the core are an integral part of the control and execution of the stroke.
Strength and Power test: This test is conducted to find out the initial levels of strength and
power of an athlete and monitor the variations in strength in relation to the training programs
being offered. This test is also called repetition maxim test (RT maximum test). It helps in the

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realization of the maximum strength of the different muscles and groups of muscles (Jeffreys,
2016, p.568).
Procedure
 The athlete does a warm-up
 The athlete lifts weight of a known mass
 Takes a 10 minutes break (Diaz, 2013, p.138)
 Increases the weight and try again
 The athlete repeats procedure 2 and 3 for as long as he can successfully carry the
additional weight
 The process is repeated until the athlete is able to only repeat a single complete and
correct lift weight (Schwellnus, 2009, p.167)
 The maximum lifted weight is recorded
The maximum lifted the weight by the athlete was 100kg. This means the maximum strength of
the different muscles and groups of muscles among the abdominal muscles of the athlete can
support up to a maximum of 100kg. Beyond this weight, the muscles of the athlete would fatigue
(Niebauer, 2017, p.123). Continuous engagement in this test helps in proving the strength of the
muscles. The more frequent the athlete does this test, the higher the muscles maximum strength.
The muscles are elastic, and the strength increases when they are subjected to heavy-duty among
them lifting the weights (Gamble, 2013, p.16). While doing this test on his own, the athlete
should be careful enough to ensure he does not exceed the maximum strength of the muscles in a
single test. Instead, the additional weights should be added bit by bit in order to avoid fatiguing

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the muscles. Fatigued muscles are likely to fail and thus have devastating health effects on the
athlete.
Conclusion
Based on the above tests and the corresponding results, it is deducible that the athlete meets most
of the physical attributes required of a cricketer. This notwithstanding, the athlete still exhibits
weakness in such areas as reaction time and speed test results. As recommended in these tests,
the athlete can make the necessary improvements in his performance by engaging in the
proposed activities. Through needs analysis, it is possible to establish where the potential of an
athlete lies and in which areas there is need to make improvements in case such improvements
are possible.