Shoulder injuries in fast bowlers are surprisingly not as common as you might think. Tim Southee, the New Zealand opening bowler, recently picked up a shoulder injury after being hit by a wayward ball during fielding practice. Luckily enough for the Kiwis, he recovered in time for the recent win against Australia in the world cup.

He is not the first bowler to pick up an injury from a “friendly fire” type incident involving a stray cricket ball in practice. Glenn McGrath missed the opening test of the 2005 Ashes series against England at Lords (the series the Aussies later went on to lose!) after standing on a ball and twisting his ankle.

One thing we are unlikely to see this world cup is an English player injuring their shoulder from picking up the trophy too quickly! However, I would say there is a significantly increased risk of an Englishman (they could actually be Irish or South African if in the England team!) developing an overuse type injury from throwing the ball back to the bowler from the boundary!

If you suffer from shoulder pain please get in touch with the team at Sydney Physio Solutions to make an appointment to see one of our shoulder specialists.