Let's learn from Australia

Tony Becca

THE news that fast bowler Kerry Jeremy has pulled up injured in Zimbabwe to the point where he will be coming home has left fans wondering just what is happening in West Indies cricket.

Jeremy, it is reported, is suffering from a back problem, and remembering the number of fast bowlers that have suffered injuries of one kind or another, that in recent times Corey Collymore and Reon King have been sidelined, and that many younger fast bowlers, including Andrew Richardson, have been ailing, it appears that something is wrong in West Indies cricket.

Injuries are not confined to West Indies cricket, and it is also not limited to fast bowlers. Too many West Indies and West Indian fast bowlers are going down injured, however, and there must be a reason for it.

Is it that the players are not fit? Is it that the crash programme to get them fit at specially arranged camps is too hectic and is doing more harm than good? Or is it that they who are working with the players, at the territorial level and at the West Indies level, do not know what they are doing?

Whatever it is, something is wrong, and something must be done about it.

If the players are not fit and the effort to get them fit in a short time is doing more harm than good, then it is time that the players are made to understand that as the professionals they claim to be, they must keep themselves in good shape all the time; and if it is that the trainers do not know what they are doing, then they must be replaced.

The problem of broken down fast bowlers probably goes beyond that however. Maybe it is that young fast bowlers bowl too much before they are fully developed physically, maybe the injuries they suffer now, particularly back injuries and shoulder injuries, stem from that, and maybe the time has come to learn from Australia.

There was a time when Australian fast bowlers were suffering as West Indian fast bowlers are now suffering.

Today, however, that is not so - and it is not only because they spot injuries early and are able to remedy them. It is also because of a preventive measure they have put in place.

Apart from discouraging their fast bowlers from bowling too fast too young, some 15 or so years ago Australia decided to protect their young fast bowlers. In age group cricket "Down Under", from under 12 up to under 19, there is a rule that limits each age group to a specific number of overs in one spell.

That is something worth trying.

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