A pilot study of the front foot ground reaction forces in elite female fast bowlers

SummaryThis pilot study aimed to determine the magnitude of ground reaction forces experienced by female cricket fast bowlers at front foot contact in the delivery stride of the bowling action. The peak vertical force, peak horizontal braking force and vertical loading rate were assessed in 15 elite Australian female fast bowlers. A sequential averaging procedure indicated that a mean of twelve trials (±2.8) were required to achieve performance stability across these ground reaction force variables and this demonstrated the importance of analyzing a sufficient number of trials to obtain representative data. The mean peak vertical ground reaction force was 3.49 kN (±0.81) and the mean peak horizontal braking force was 2.13 kN (±0.52). Statistical analyses revealed that differences in body mass explained only 2.3% of the variance in peak vertical force and 2.0% of the variance in peak horizontal braking force so normalization using body mass a covariate is not recommended when reporting front foot ground reaction forces in elite female fast bowlers. The mean time to the peak vertical force was 0.033 s (±0.009) and the vertical loading rate was 121.31 kN s−1 (±73.78). Further work is required to determine the best ways to minimise and attenuate front foot ground reaction forces.