Cricket Pre-Season Training: How to Prepare Your Body for the Season

Cricket season has a habit of arriving quickly.

One week you're having the occasional hit in the nets, and the next you're expected to bowl at full pace, sprint between wickets, throw from the boundary and spend an entire Saturday in the field.

The problem is that your body might not be ready for that sudden increase in cricket.

A good cricket pre-season isn't just about getting fitter. It's about gradually preparing your body for the specific demands of batting, bowling and fielding so that when round one arrives, you're ready to perform.

Here's what we'd focus on.

1. Start Building Your Cricket Workload Early

One of the biggest mistakes we see athletes make is leaving their cricket-specific training until the last few weeks before the season.

This is particularly important for fast bowlers.

Bowling places very specific demands on the body that can't be completely replicated in the gym. Your body needs time to adapt to repeatedly bowling at higher intensities.

Cricket Australia's current junior pace bowling guidelines recommend gradually building bowling frequency and intensity before the season. Their age-specific minimum preparation periods range from two weeks for under-13 players through to eight weeks for 17 to 19-year-olds, while noting that building full bowling capacity can take more than 10 weeks.

Rather than going from very little bowling to multiple net sessions and a practice match in the same week, start early and progressively increase your exposure.

The goal is simple:

Don't use the first few games of the season to get fit enough to play cricket. Prepare your body beforehand.

2. Get Stronger Before the Season

Cricketers need more than cricket skills.

Strength training can help build the physical qualities needed to bowl quickly, hit powerfully, sprint, change direction and throw.

A cricket strength and conditioning program may include exercises targeting:

• Lower-body strength and power

• Hamstring and calf strength

• Trunk strength and control

• Shoulder and upper-body strength

• Single-leg strength

• Rotational power

• Landing and deceleration ability

The exact program should depend on the athlete's age, training history, position and injury history.

For junior athletes in particular, pre-season is a great opportunity to establish good strength-training habits before matches and cricket training start filling up the week.

3. Don't Forget About Sprinting

Cricket might not look like a running sport in the same way as football, but there are plenty of high-speed efforts.

Think about a quick single, chasing a ball to the boundary or accelerating for a second run.

If your fastest running during winter has been a light jog, suddenly sprinting at maximum speed in a game is a significant jump in demand.

Your pre-season should therefore include progressive exposure to:

• Acceleration

• Maximum-speed running

• Change of direction

• Short repeat efforts

You don't need to turn every session into a fitness test. The goal is to gradually expose your body to the speeds you'll need during games.

4. Build Your Throwing Volume Too

Bowling isn't the only cricket workload worth considering.

Fielders can go from doing very little throwing during the off-season to dozens of throws at training and on match day.

If you're a wicketkeeper, fielder or someone with a history of shoulder or elbow problems, gradually rebuilding your throwing volume can be just as important as your general gym program.

Start with shorter, lower-intensity throws before progressing towards longer and harder efforts.

Again, the key is progression rather than going from zero to 100.

5. Fast Bowlers Need a Plan

If there's one group that should take pre-season preparation particularly seriously, it's fast bowlers.

Research has repeatedly linked sudden increases in bowling workload with increased injury risk in fast bowlers. More recent evidence continues to support progressive workload development and adequate recovery rather than relying on a single rigid workload number.

For junior pace bowlers, Cricket Australia currently recommends:

• Under 17: avoid back-to-back bowling days where possible, bowl on a maximum of three days per week and bowl no more than five overs in a spell.

• 17 to 19: no more than two consecutive bowling days, a maximum of four bowling days per week and no more than six overs in a spell.

Remember that these bowling days include both training and matches.

That becomes particularly important for talented junior cricketers playing school, club and representative cricket at the same time.

More cricket isn't automatically better cricket.

6. Recovery Is Part of Training

You don't improve simply by doing more.

Your body needs time to recover and adapt to training.

A good cricket pre-season should balance cricket training, strength work, running and recovery rather than trying to squeeze as much training as possible into every week.

Sleep, nutrition and appropriate rest days all matter.

For young fast bowlers, Cricket Australia also recommends considering the total bowling workload across every team they play for, rather than treating school, club and representative cricket as separate workloads.

Parents and coaches should communicate when junior athletes are playing across multiple teams.

What Should a Cricket Pre-Season Week Look Like?

There's no perfect weekly program for every cricketer.

A fast bowler's week will look different from a wicketkeeper's, while a 14-year-old junior shouldn't necessarily follow the same program as a 25-year-old senior player.

A pre-season week could include a combination of:

2 strength sessions
Developing strength, power and robustness.

1 to 3 cricket sessions
Gradually increasing batting, bowling and throwing exposure depending on the athlete.

1 to 2 running exposures
Including acceleration and higher-speed running.

Recovery days
Allowing the body to adapt between harder sessions.

The important part isn't just what you do in one week. It's how your training progresses across the entire pre-season.

When Should You Start Cricket Pre-Season Training?

Earlier than most players think.

If your cricket season starts in October, August is a great time to begin structured preparation.

That gives you time to gradually increase your strength, running, throwing and cricket-specific workloads rather than trying to cram everything into September.

For fast bowlers, this becomes even more important because bowling capacity takes time to develop.

Get Ready for Cricket Season at Pivot Sports Performance

A good pre-season should leave you feeling prepared for round one, not exhausted before the season has even started.

At Pivot Sports Performance, our physiotherapists and strength and conditioning coaches work together to help cricketers prepare for the demands of their sport.

Whether you're a junior cricketer preparing for another season, a fast bowler looking to manage your workload or an adult player wanting to improve your strength and performance, we can help build a program around you.

With locations in Bundoora and Ringwood, Pivot Sports Performance combines sports physiotherapy and strength and conditioning to help athletes stay on the field and perform at their best.

Don't wait until the first game to find out whether your body is ready for cricket season. Start preparing now.

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