Cricket's next generation of pace knows fast bowling can take a toll

Teenage paceman Patrick Sullivan wants to bowl for Australia, but knows it will hurt physically to fulfil that dream. "It would make it all worth it, but [it] makes it hard knowing you're going to hurt your body," he admitted. The nation's next generation of cricketers recently gathered in Adelaide to begin preparations for the 2028 under-19 World Cup. Among the young talent are plenty of tales of the physical toll that fast bowling can take.

Victorian Simrth Gill is a batting all-rounder who bowled pace until injury struck. "I ended up with a stress fracture of my back," he recalled. That stress fracture meant four months of enforced rest, giving the 17-year-old plenty of time to think. He made the huge decision to abandon fast bowling to preserve his burgeoning cricket career.

"I was chatting to my dad and saying I don't want to risk an injury," he said. "As a batter, I just want to prioritise that, and do a bit of spin bowling on the side." Strength and conditioning The Adelaide training camp was overseen by the national U19 coach Tim Nielsen, who said choosing to be a fast bowler would always come with episodes of pain. "There's not too many of the best ones that are going around that haven't had some sort of stress injury in their bodies over the journey," he said. Australian Test captain Pat Cummins missed most of the Ashes series due to a long-term back injury, while others, including Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, have also battled serious injuries in their careers.

Nielsen believes that getting into elite cricket programs will help with strength and conditioning. He said part of the problem was that with teenage cricketers, fast bowling puts extreme pressure on different parts of the body. At the elite level, care is taken to ease the load each summer, Nielsen said. "We're really careful about how much cricket they play," he said.

"If they show signs through MRIs or different medical paths, then we're more likely to be conservative with those young players to try and get them through this period of being 17 and 18." Courses of action Toby Derrick is a New South Wales fast bowler who regularly produces deliveries of 130 kilometres an hour. He believes he could have benefited from preventative programs before ankle injuries and back fractures hit. "Last season I had stress fractures, which ruled me out from bowling the whole season," he said. "So in the off-season, I worked pretty hard on getting my bowling action to where it didn't hurt my back too much." But the 185-centimetre paceman does not entertain any thought of giving up bowling, and conceded he was "probably going to get injuries a bit".

"I think it's part of the game," he said. "Knowing it happens to all pace bowlers, and just working through the rehab and getting back fit is the key." The U19 World Cup is expected to be held in January 2028, with an extensive build-up planned, including a tour of India in September.