Noakes T D, Durandt J J
Department of Human Biology, University of Cape Town, Sports Science Institute of South Africa, Newlands.
J Sports Sci. 2000 Dec;18(12):919-29. doi: 10.1080/026404100446739.
Despite its long history and global appeal, relatively little is known about the physiological and other requirements of cricket. It has been suggested that the physiological demands of cricket are relatively mild, except in fast bowlers during prolonged bowling spells in warm conditions. However, the physiological demands of cricket may be underestimated because of the intermittent nature of the activity and the generally inadequate understanding of the physiological demands of intermittent activity. Here, we review published studies of the physiology of cricket. We propose that no current model used to analyse the nature of exercise fatigue (i.e. the cardiovascular-anaerobic model, the energy supply-energy depletion model, the muscle power-muscle recruitment model) can adequately explain the fatigue experienced during cricket. A study of players in the South African national cricket team competing in the 1999 Cricket World Cup revealed that, in a variety of measures of explosive ('anaerobic') power and aerobic endurance capacity, they were as 'fit' as South African national rugby players competing in the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Yet, outwardly, the physiological demands of rugby would seem to be far greater than those of cricket. This poses the question: 'Why are these international cricketers so fit if the physiological demands of cricket are apparently so mild?' One possibility is that this specific group of athletes are unusually proficient in a variety of sports; many achieved high standards of performance in other sports, including rugby, before choosing to specialize in cricket. Hence their apparently high fitness may simply reflect a superior genetic physical endowment, necessary to achieve success in modern international sports, including cricket. Alternatively, it could be hypothesized that superior power and endurance fitness may be required to cope with the repeated eccentric muscle contractions required in turning and in bowling and which may account for fatigue and risk of injury in cricket. If this is the case, the fitness of cricketers may be increased and their risk of injury reduced by more specific eccentric exercise training programmes.
尽管板球历史悠久且全球流行，但人们对其生理及其他需求却知之甚少。有人认为，除了在温暖条件下长时间投快球的投手外，板球运动对生理的要求相对较低。然而，由于这项运动的间歇性特点以及人们对间歇性活动生理需求普遍缺乏充分了解，板球运动对生理的要求可能被低估了。在此，我们回顾已发表的关于板球生理学的研究。我们认为，目前用于分析运动疲劳本质的模型（即心血管 - 无氧模型、能量供应 - 能量消耗模型、肌肉力量 - 肌肉募集模型）都无法充分解释板球运动中所经历的疲劳。一项对参加1999年板球世界杯的南非国家板球队队员的研究表明，在各种爆发力（“无氧”）和有氧耐力能力的测量指标上，他们与参加1999年橄榄球世界杯的南非国家橄榄球队队员一样“健康”。然而，从表面上看，橄榄球对生理的要求似乎远高于板球。这就引出了一个问题：“如果板球对生理的要求明显如此之低，为什么这些国际板球运动员如此健康？”一种可能性是，这群特定的运动员在多种运动项目上异常精通；许多人在选择专攻板球之前，在包括橄榄球在内的其他运动项目中都取得了很高的成绩标准。因此，他们看似很高的健康水平可能仅仅反映了一种卓越的遗传身体天赋，这是在包括板球在内的现代国际体育中取得成功所必需的。或者，可以假设，可能需要卓越的力量和耐力健康水平来应对击球转身和投球时所需的反复离心肌肉收缩，这可能是板球运动中疲劳和受伤风险的原因。如果是这样的话，通过更具针对性的离心运动训练计划，板球运动员的健康水平可能会提高，受伤风险也会降低。
