Relationship of Bowling Speed with Power and Dynamic Balance in Bowlers: A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: In the game of cricket dynamic balance and the strength of lower limb muscles plays a major role while bowling or to control the bowling speed. Bowlers use different style of run ups to optimise their bowling speed. Therefore, for every athlete physical fitness plays essential role. Aim: To find the correlation between bowling speed and lower limb explosive power and dynamic balance in state and district level cricket bowlers. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Cricket Gurukul, Faridabad, Mahadev Desai Cricket Academy, Faridabad, Haryana and Indraprastha Cricket Academy, Punjabi Bagh, Delhi, India from January 2018 to January 2019. Total 98 male bowlers with age between 16-28 years, playing experience of at least 6 months in University/District level and playing frequency at least 5 days/weeks were included in the present study. Modified Star Excursion Balance Test (mSEBT) was used to measure the dynamic balance, broad jump test was used to measure lower limb explosive power and radar gun was used to measured bowling speed. Data was analysed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software 2.0 version. Descriptive statistics was calculated. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated. The p-value <0.05 was set as statistically significant. Results: Mean age was 19±3.1 years and Body mass index was 23.1±2.68 kg/m2 . Dynamic balance showed positive correlation with bowling speed (r=0.227, p<0.0001) and lower limb explosive power showed positive correlation (r=0.638, p<0.0001) with bowling speed in cricket bowlers. Conclusion: It was found that, the bowling speed of the cricket bowlers can improve majorly if the explosive power of the lower limb is improved whereas, there is less impact of dynamic balance on the bowling speed.