Lasith Malinga

[Monica]

Hi guys,
I was watching the Carins test the other day and was almost shocked by the slinging action of Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga. Unusual as it is, I began analysing his actual body at the point of delivery. He has a mixed action, landing with his hips side-on and then straightening them suddenly as he releases the ball. Mixed actions are the major causes of lumbar stress fractures in bowlers, and reaching speeds of 140ks, he'd be in high risk? In Australia, our bowlers are screened from a young age - why not in Sri Lanka?

[Danny]

Very unusual action indeed. And yes a mixed action has a very high correlation with injury. I would be very interested to know if he has experienced any of the early warning signs of a stress fracture, and if not, I would make sure he is as fit as possible and let him charge in. One of the major reasons I would take this approach is that he generates all his pace from his unusual mechanics. Changing his action to be more 'safe' could be to the detriment of his pace, rhythm and difficult to read ball release. Just a thought, what do you reckon?

[Monica]

I agree with you 100% Danny! If it ain't broke, I guess... and in "fixing" it, he'd lose everything, and would have to begin again I'd imagine! I am just concerned that with his unique action will come injury, and in a 20 year old debutant... to stare down the barrel of that gun would be pretty scary!! You are right - the power is all in his delivery. But where do you draw the line? I'd be right next to you giving him the green light if he was fine, but what if he wasn't? What do you do then? Do you change the action... or leave it?!

Mon

[Danny]

Such a tough situation. I attended a Pace Australia session at the SCG a few months ago headed by Dennis Lillee, and picked up some idea of his thoughts. He gave an example that typifies this issue:

He was working with an up and coming bowler a few years ago who was REALLY quick, the quickest he had seen come up through the ranks for a long time. Unfotunately this young bowler broke down with stress fractures, they rehab'd him and straightened out his action to be more safe and less whippy. This bowler has not had any problems since......but he has only a fraction of the pace and today is not in any state squad at all. A couple of questions came up:

Did we ruin this guys career as a professional cricketer?
Was it his action that caused the stress fracture or was he over worked, or both?
Would he have broken down again if the action remained the same?
Have we inadvertently weakened the Australian team of the future?

Such a great issue, don't get me wrong I am a big fan of screenings and their ability to detect injuries and injury risks and SAVE bowlers careers.
I just think that we need to make sure we don't get tunnel vision about the injury risk management we adopt for every single bowler.

So many more questions than answers! (I'm sure you agree) That's what makes it so interesting!

[Monica]

Wow Danny! How'd you get involved in the pace camp? That must have been fantastic!

Your absolutely right, but then again, it seems that it's an individual issue. The case you mentioned had the player drop out, while the same think happened to a much younger Brett Lee, a few years back I'm told... and the rest, as they say, is history.

It is a very interesting issue, and will probably become more and more prevalent as the years progress. It obviously will have be handled case by case to prevent "tunnel vision".

The questions brought up by Dennis are very systemic - and some, very deep - but they aren't doing anything to track down the answers. In instances like this, wouldn't it be better to work at it to make sure it doesn't happen again, rather than just letting it lie? Or it the general attitude that some breakdowns happen and you can't do anything about it... and that's just the way it is? Its just a given? What do you reckon?

[Danny]

I love your Brett Lee example; the money he generates for Australian Cricket probably pays for the last and next 10 years worth of screenings. If we can save another future Brett Lee then we are doing a great service for the game.

Just on reflection, the bowling action really is ugly and unnatural isn't it. I mean it is a recipe for disaster, I can't recall in the evolution of man a point where throwing was deemed redundant to a straight arm bowling action to spear animals and propel rocks (ha ha ha ). Anyway my point is that.....

The injury rates in the 2003 season of around 16% for fast bowlers, really is a testament to the stress placed on bowlers. This is where I really like your line of thinking; why is there a 16% injury rate when really just about all these injuries are preventable? it's not like there's a 100kg forward jumping on your knee. Without a doubt, if we want to stay on top of the world of cricket we need to be getting into the nitty gritty and finding definable quantifiable risk factors and proven effective prevention strategies

[Monica]

Ha ha, but your spot on Danny. It's really great to find someone who shares the same belief system - and I thank you for your support. I suppose there are many ways to look at things like this, and mine's a very simple point of view, but there it is.

Being in the position I am, its easy to view from afar and comment (all I really can do, but that's why John invited me here... getting a bit off track ha ha), but there's two sides to it. One is that I bounce ideas off friends and family and they just nod and smile, and the second is that I can bounce ideas off you guys, and if I'm corrected that can only help me shape my ideas.

Brett has been great for the game. He's unintentionally set the balll rolling for the betterment of our future (fast, esp.) bowlers, I think. And I love that your logic draws you to the same conclusions I do - all cricketers have problems, but at such low rates comparatively for spinners, fast bowlers have preference! Ha ha, no 100kg forward jumping on their knees, but keep in mind the 100kg the knee carries as they go forward!!

Nitty gritty is the way to go!! What is it they say about prevention...?

Mon

[Monica]

Lasith's style is certainly unique, that's a given. Fingers crossed that we may see it for a good few years yet!

You know me Danny - I'm all for prevention and research!

But pace is where the money must be. (sorry, only have access to 2001-02 stats...) 157 missed games due to stress fractures for fast bowlers comparative with 19 for batsmen and 0 for spinners and wickies. That's unbelievable. But then again, there are different ways that people will respond to this - some say it one of the "pleasures of fast bowling", but I reckon it's too high regardless. Altogether, there were 19 lumbar injuries - 3rd only to side/ab strains and hammie strains - none of which are only to be contributed to action!

Quote from ACB Injury Report 2001-02 by Drs. John Orchard and Trefor James; section entitled 'Risk factors for bowling injury: Bowler speed':

"... many bowling injuries are far more prevalent in pace bowlers (those of 'Fast', 'Fast-medium' or 'Medium ranking') than spin bowlers... For a majority of trunk and lower limb injuries in bowlers, speed should be assessed as a rick factor. Generally, this is not a risk factor that a bowler would wish to reverse, as pace is one of the greatest weapons against batsmen. The rankings of speed are used at this stage as a general guide - in the future, more specific assessment of player speed should be made, in particular the components of the bowling motion that contribute to speed, and with of these contribute to injury."

Brilliant. Makes no direct reference to the effect of the motion on the body, but strenghtens our points on body biomechanics. Openly allows for debate and further development of ideas. How much were you allowed access to at the pace camp, Danny? Were there biomechanics at the camp to assess actions?

Does anyone else have a differing thoughts or opinions they'd like to share?

Mon

[Danny]

More of a qualitative Pace Camp, and by qualitative I mean there was still the use of video but not to derive angles and numbers, just for assistance in alignment and fine tuning. Silicon Coach is a fantastic program out for video quantitative analysis (especially for counter rotation). At a level 2 cricket coaching coarse on the weekend there was a very interesting suggestion about the development of safe techniques....

"The front-on action is prone to higher counter rotation numbers and should be phased out of the game"

A daring statement!

If you want me to continue let me know.

[Monica]

Absolutely, Danny! Please, tell me more...


More of a qualitative Pace Camp, and by qualitative I mean there was still the use of video but not to derive angles and numbers, just for assistance in alignment and fine tuning. Silicon Coach is a fantastic program out for video quantitative analysis (especially for counter rotation). At a level 2 cricket coaching coarse on the weekend there was a very interesting suggestion about the development of safe techniques....

"The front-on action is prone to higher counter rotation numbers and should be phased out of the game"

A daring statement!

If you want me to continue let me know.