Have been chatting to two or three fellow members in past couple of weeks about the bowling injuries.
Would there be a connection between the slope and bowlers from the pavilion end?

It's just a thought,or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Beefy

Unless the slope has tilted more over the years it seems unlikely. I don't recall John Price and Wayne Daniel having any great injury problems, to name but two.


Adelaide

Finn - bowls predominantly from the Pavillion End.

Toby - same.

Tom Helm seems unfortunately permanently hors de combat, so never really in danger of even getting on to bowl, but an interesting theory to try to flesh out with some more anecdotal evidence.

Is it perhaps because that the Pavillion End is thought to favour the faster bowlers that they bowl from that end, so they - having a more physically demanding / explosive action - bowl from there, and their action is more stressful on their bodies?

Wayne was built like a brick outhouse privy, and bowled slightly chest on, but his body could have withstood anything short of a direct hit from a 15" shell. Brearley used him as sparingly as he could however, and he did play in attacks where there were two front line spinners. Price had Titmus and Latchman, but in both eras, there was an awful lot more CC cricket being played then too.

Did the fast bowlers eke out their spells, only putting an effort ball in once every now and then, whereas there really is no excuse for them not giving it all now, as they have so many more days off > more stress on the body when they actually are bowling ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/10/2018 11:14 by Primrose Hillbilly.

PH

That's a nice point - correlation does not imply cause.

It's probably hazy rose-coloured recollection but it's hard to remember any bowlers being injury-prone from those years, never mind Wayne. Perhaps it's all that warming up or being obliged to do Colin Bland impressions in the field.


Adelaide

Certainly the extremely enjoyable jaunt I've taken through Middlesex's matches in "circa peak Price era", the 1972 season - to research things a bit, indicate that he got through a massive amount of work then.

I wonder what his slant would be on how he kept fit to bowl then?

Turning the question around from how John Price and his contemporaries kept fit to bowl, my recollection is that Fred Trueman said that he kept fit by bowling. Certainly the likes of Trueman, Statham and Derek Shackleton got through an immense amount of work each season, aided by having very economcal bowling actions. I suspect it must also have been beneficial that for the likes of Price and Shackleton, who only occasionally featured in Test matches,there was an unbroken rhythm to the season: 6 days of cricket a week in a single format.

In my young day I don't recall Moss and Warr being laid up for weeks or months at a time. In fact they seemed to be virtually ever present.

Interesting posts regarding the injuries and my thoughts,would present day cricket boots have anything to do with the injuries?
Was just wondering,as we do seem to have more than our fair share of injuries in bowling department.
With back injuries,once it's a weak point,it does stay that way (from my own feelings,and a good friend as well).

Price used to bowl from the Nursery end, as there was more room for his run-up.

Moss, Price, Daniels and Cowans used to bowl with the new ball and certain other times. Most of the bowling was by Titmus and Hooker, who like Shackleton and Tom Cartwright, was a military medium stock bowler.

They did not have bowlers who bowled fast from short run-ups, or had their actions changed to be clones of Gus (Bloomfield was the first of the latter).

There are more injuries in football (e.g. Spurs) and Rugby than there used to be, so it is either training methods or playing too hard. Most fielders did not dive or run too hard.

John Price bowled from the Nursery End? Not as I remember it There's even an article on line by Mike Selvey which says that his opening partners - Daniel, Price of Jones - would nearly always take the Pavilion End. Selvey says he preferred the Nursery End and was genuinely surprised to find that Simon Hughes did not.


Adelaide

Quote:

adelaide
John Price bowled from the Nursery End? Not as I remember it There's even an article on line by Mike Selvey which says that his opening partners - Daniel, Price of Jones - would nearly always take the Pavilion End. Selvey says he preferred the Nursery End and was genuinely surprised to find that Simon Hughes did not.

Adelaide

I definitely remember John Price commencing his memorable run up from in front of the then-Warner Stand! This must be why we remember him from the Pavilion End.