Cricket Injury and Performance Screening: The Complete Guide for Players, Coaches, and Parents

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James Breese, Cricket Matters Founder

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Cricket is brutal in repetition. Bowlers’ backs, batters’ groins and hamstrings, keepers’ knees — the same areas break down, season after season. It’s not if, it’s when.

That’s why injury and movement screening matters. It shows you how a player moves, where the risks are hiding, and what needs fixing before pain or breakdown stops play. Tight hips, unstable ankles, weak links in the chain — they all show up here first.

This isn’t just about avoiding injury. Done right, screening builds a roadmap for performance: the strength to bowl longer spells, the mobility to rotate smoothly, the control to move with confidence. No cookie-cutter gym programs — just plans built for your body and your role.

At Cricket Matters, we start every player with a Performance Analysis, or an Injury Analysis if pain is already present. It’s the foundation for everything else — because when you know how a body moves, you know how to build it stronger.

What Is Cricket Injury and Performance Screening?

Cricket injury and performance screening is a structured check-up for how your body moves and performs. Think of it as an MOT for cricketers — simple tests that show where you’re strong, where you’re stiff, and where small issues could grow into injuries.

The goal isn’t just to prevent breakdowns. Screening gives you a performance baseline: how well you balance, how much power you produce, and whether your movement quality can handle the demands of bowling, batting, and fielding. From there, you can train smarter, fix weak links, and track progress over time.

It also links directly to technique. Just as TPI in golf connects swing faults to body restrictions, cricket screening shows how your movement shapes your game. A batter who can’t rotate their hips freely struggles with front-foot play. A bowler with limited thoracic mobility overloads their lumbar spine. A keeper without ankle range can’t hold a low crouch. What looks like a technical flaw is often a physical limitation.

And that’s the point: screening isn’t about diagnosis, it’s about connection — spotting how movement quality underpins performance, and where adjustments will keep you playing better, longer, and pain-free.

The “Holy Trinity” of Movement Screening (FMS, SFMA, YBT)

There are dozens of screening systems out there, but from my experience working with Gray Cook and the FMS team in the USA, only a few truly stand the test of time. There’s a reason these same methods form part of the NFL and MLB combines — and why clubs like Bayern Munich build them into their player monitoring. When performance and availability matter, the system has to be proven.

At Cricket Matters, we use what I call the “holy trinity” of movement screening:

• FMS (Functional Movement Screen) → For pain-free athletes. It gives a clean baseline of movement quality: where you’re symmetrical, where you compensate, and how ready your body is to handle load.
• SFMA (Selective Functional Movement Assessment) → For athletes with pain. Instead of just noting a fault, it digs into why the pain exists — mobility vs stability, compensation vs control.
• Y-Balance Test (YBT) → The precision tool. It measures dynamic balance and single-leg symmetry with accuracy, making it invaluable for return-to-play and for the highest-performing athletes chasing that extra 1%.

Here’s how it works in practice: say a bowler comes in with recurring back pain. The FMS might flag a poor deep squat pattern. That tells us something is off, but not why. The SFMA then digs deeper and reveals the real driver — limited hip rotation forcing the lumbar spine to do the work. Later, once pain is under control, the YBT is used to check single-leg balance and asymmetry before return-to-play.

And it’s not just about injury. This system helps explain technique too. We always ask three questions: What is the player doing? How are they doing it? Why are they doing it that way? The holy trinity lets us answer the “why.” It shows whether a technical fault — like a batter constantly losing balance — is really about skill, or whether it’s a mobility or stability issue holding them back.

That’s the difference: it’s not random screens, it’s a system. Everyone on the team speaks the same language, follows the same roadmap, and gives players clarity they can trust.

This system is built into every screen we run at Cricket Matters — so whether you’re pain-free, dealing with a niggle, or chasing that extra 1%, we’ve got a proven roadmap.

Beyond Movement — Power, Speed and Aerobic Testing

Movement screens like FMS, SFMA, and Y-Balance give us the “why” — they show weak links, asymmetries, and patterns that predict where a body will break down. But cricket isn’t just about moving well in a test — it’s about holding those patterns when you’re under fatigue, pressure, and repetition.

That’s where performance screening comes in. These tests form part of the initial assessments we run at Cricket Matters. They sit alongside our movement and injury screens to give us a complete physical snapshot of the athlete. From there, we can go deeper once training begins.

Why does it matter? Because most cricketers fall into one of three categories:

• Broken (already injured and can’t perform)
• Breaking (niggles building up but still playing)
• Balanced (moving and performing in sync)

Our job is to shift players into that balanced category — because that’s where performance thrives. The problem is, many players don’t know they’re breaking until they’re broken. And even those who know they’re broken often don’t know how to get out of it.

These tests shine a light on the problem. If your broad jump is way below par, it often shows up in bowling stride length or batting power. If your farmer’s carry falls short, posture will collapse in long innings. Fix the gaps, and not only does injury risk drop — technique improves too. And that’s what most cricketers are obsessed with: hitting cleaner, bowling faster, moving sharper.

This is why we don’t separate “injury screening” from “performance screening.” They’re two sides of the same coin. Together, they explain why a technique fault exists, and what needs to change physically to fix it for good.

Cricket Screening Benchmarks — Test, Standard, Why It Matters

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What Screening Reveals (And What It Doesn’t)

Screening pulls back the curtain on the stuff you can’t always see. It reveals weak links that keep breaking down, asymmetries that explain why one side always feels tighter, and capacity gaps that hold back speed, power, or endurance. It’s the map that shows where you are right now — not where you think you are.

But let’s be clear about what it doesn’t do. Screening won’t predict how many runs you’ll score or how many wickets you’ll take. It won’t replace a scan if there’s a suspected fracture or tear. What it does is give you the starting point: the physical truth behind your performance and your pain.

And here’s where it links back to technique. Many so-called “technical faults” aren’t really technical at all — they’re physical. A batter who keeps falling over to the off-side may actually lack hip stability. A bowler collapsing at the crease might have poor ankle mobility. A keeper struggling to stay low could be dealing with weak adductors. Screening shows us why these patterns happen, so instead of blaming skill alone, we can fix the root cause.

Think of it as a cricketing health check. Just like an MOT for a car, it tells you what’s working, what’s wearing down, and what needs fixing before you hit the road. The match itself is the real test — but screening makes sure you’re not turning up already compromised.

When and How Often Should Screening Be Done?

Screening isn’t a one-and-done box tick. Movement changes with training load, match schedules, fatigue, and injury. That’s why the timing matters as much as the tests themselves.

Pre-season is non-negotiable. Before overs pile up or time in the nets gets intense, screening sets your baseline. It shows where you’re solid and where you’re vulnerable, so your training plan can target the right areas.

Mid-season is the checkpoint. If performance dips, screening often reveals whether the issue is movement-driven rather than skill. It’s also when niggles show whether they’re just tightness or something deeper.

Post-season is the debrief. Compare the end-of-season screen with the pre-season baseline and you’ll see exactly what held up and what broke down. That’s what guides smarter off-season training, rather than just rest.

Return-to-play is essential. Clearing pain isn’t the same as being ready to play. Screening tells us whether movement quality has been restored — whether your body can actually handle the stresses of bowling, batting, or keeping again.

The rule of thumb? Screen whenever the context changes — new season, mid-season dips, after injuries. That’s how you stop guessing, start tracking, and keep yourself available across the calendar.

Using Screening Results in Practice

Screening only matters if you do something with the data. At Cricket Matters, we don’t treat it as a report card — we use it as the playbook for everything that follows.

First, screening builds individual profiles. No two players move the same, so no two training plans should look the same. A bowler with stiff hips needs a different focus than a batter with shoulder overload. The screen highlights those weak links, and from there we decide whether the priority is strength and conditioning, physio input, or a technical tweak.

Second, it guides workload management. By linking screening results to overs bowled, sprint volume, and recovery windows, we see when a player is tipping from “balanced” into “breaking.” That’s how we keep players on the field, not on the physio bed.

Third, it drives evidence-based programming. Because we re-test, we can measure whether the plan is working — more hip rotation, stronger hamstrings, better balance. That gives coaches confidence, players buy-in, and parents peace of mind.

And most importantly, we do it as a team system. Every coach, physio, and therapist at Cricket Matters is trained in the same screening tools. That means no mixed advice, no wasted time, and no contradictions. Everyone speaks the same language, and the player gets one clear roadmap forward.

Screening isn’t the answer by itself — but it gives us the answers we need to build training, rehab, and coaching that actually works.

That’s why at Cricket Matters we don’t hand you a report and send you away — we build the plan, as a team, to make sure the screen turns into results.

Final Word — Screen to Play Longer and Better

Cricket is a game of attrition. Seasons aren’t won in one innings — they’re ground out over months of bowling loads, batting sessions, and hours in the field. The players who last aren’t the ones who push through pain blindly; they’re the ones who assess, adjust, and build durability.

That’s where screening comes in. It doesn’t tell you how many runs you’ll score or wickets you’ll take. What it does is give you the map: where you’re strong, where you’re vulnerable, and what needs work before it turns into missed games.

At Cricket Matters, we bring it all together. FMS for movement quality. SFMA when pain shows up. Y-Balance to dig into symmetry. Add our cricket-specific strength, power, speed, and endurance tests, and you’ve got a complete system that gives players and coaches clarity — not guesswork.

Screening is the first step. Do it right, and you don’t just play — you play longer, better, and with confidence.

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