Variability and physical demands of international seam bowlers in one-day and Twenty20 international matches across five years.

OBJECTIVES: To quantify and compare the match demands and variability of international One-Day (ODI) with Twenty20 (T20) cricket matches and to compare ODI match demands when competing home and away. DESIGN: Single cohort, longitudinal observation. METHODS: Thirteen international male seam bowlers across 204matches (ODI=160; T20=44) were investigated over five-years (2015-2019). Using global positioning sensors and accelerometers, physical demands were quantified using distance covered at different velocities and the number of entries into high and low intensity acceleration and deceleration bands. Variability was quantified using coefficient of variation (CV) and smallest worthwhile change. RESULTS: Significantly greater (p<0.05) match demands were found for all physical variables relative to minutes played for T20 against ODI matches, except for distance covered 20-25kmh-1 which was greater for ODI. Distance covered between 0-7km∙h-1 showed no significance difference (p=0.60). The number of moderate decelerations (2-4m∙s2) were greater (p=0.04) away compared to home in ODI. All other variables showed no significance. Relative to minutes played, decelerations ≤4m∙s2 (within-player ODI CV=75.5%. T20=72.0%) accelerations >4m∙s2 (within-player ODI CV=79.2%. T20 CV=77.2%. Between-player ODI CV=84.7%. T20=38.8%) and distance covered >25kmh-1 (within-player ODI CV=65.5%. T20=64.1%) showed the greatest variability. CONCLUSIONS: Players are exposed to different physical demands in ODI Vs T20 matches, but not for home Vs away ODI matches. Practitioners should be aware of the large variability in high-speed/intensity accelerations and decelerations across matches.