Fuelling & performance nutrition for cricket

An evidence-based guide to fuelling for cricket — a sport that looks gentle and isn't. The physical demand comes in bursts, which is exactly what makes it easy to underestimate, and you're often out there for six hours or a whole day (and, in the longest formats, several days), in the heat, in full whites, needing to stay sharp ball after ball. This covers daily carbohydrate and protein, the pre-match meal, keeping blood sugar steady across a long innings, how to use drinks breaks, lunch and tea, hydration and sodium in heat, why fast bowlers need more, and how to recover between days and games. Practical, honest, and grounded in established sports-nutrition consensus.

Here's the short answer to "how should a cricketer fuel?": keep your everyday carbohydrate and protein matched to your training, start each day's play well-fed and hydrated, then defend two things across the long hours — steady blood sugar for concentration, and fluid-and-sodium balance in the heat — topping up at drinks breaks, lunch and tea rather than trying to out-eat an endurance athlete. Everything below is the detail behind that sentence: the numbers, where they come from, and how to make them work for your role and format rather than someone else's.

Pair this with the cricket strength and conditioning guide for the training side — rotational power for batting and bowling, sprinting between wickets, and the workload management that protects fast bowlers' backs.

A framing note before the numbers. Sports nutrition is well studied, but people differ enormously — body size, role, the format, the weather, gut tolerance, sex and health status all shift what's right on the day. A specialist batter's day is not a fast bowler's day. So this is written as can, tends to and around, never as a guarantee, and every specific figure is a population-level guide drawn from published consensus, not a personal prescription. It's general education, not medical or dietary advice, and it isn't a personalised plan.

Cricket's real fuelling challenge

It's tempting to file cricket under "not really a fitness sport." The game is certainly intermittent: a batter can stand at the crease for an hour at a low average workload punctuated by sharp bursts — a quick single, a scampered three, a dive. A fielder ambles between deliveries and then sprints, throws or dives. A bowler walks back to their mark, then delivers an explosive few seconds. But a review of the sport's physiology warns against reading that pattern as "easy". Noakes and Durandt note that cricket's demands have been suggested to be relatively mild except in fast bowlers during prolonged spells in warm conditions — and then argue against that view: the demands may be underestimated precisely because the activity is intermittent and intermittent activity is poorly understood, and they propose that superior power and endurance fitness may be needed to cope with the repeated eccentric muscle contractions of turning and bowling, which may account for the fatigue and injury risk seen in the game.^[1] The measured workloads point the same way: GPS tracking of squad cricketers found fast bowlers carrying the greatest workload of any position, and while the short formats are more intense per unit of time, multi-day cricket carries the greater overall physical load.^[8]

So this guide doesn't start from "cricket is light". It starts from something more careful: cricket's fuelling problem is shaped less by how hard any single action is than by duration, heat and concentration. A day's play can run six hours or more; a multi-day match runs for days. That's a long time to keep blood sugar stable enough to bat with clear judgement, to keep replacing what you sweat out in full whites under a hot sun, and to still be sharp in the last session when the match is decided. Each burst is short; it's doing them, alertly, for hours, hot and possibly on day three that makes fuelling matter. And within a side the loads are wildly unequal — which is why fast bowlers get their own section below. The carbohydrate numbers in the next section aren't a marathoner's, but that's a judgement about the hours you actually work at moderate-to-high intensity, not a verdict that the sport is undemanding.

Daily carbohydrate and protein — the base

Match-day fuelling only works if you arrive with the tank reasonably full, and that comes from your everyday eating, matched to how much you train and play. Contemporary sports-nutrition guidance — Burke and colleagues' widely used carbohydrate framework^[2], adopted as the carbohydrate table in the joint position on nutrition and athletic performance from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (United States), Dietitians of Canada (Canada) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM, United States)^[3] — scales daily carbohydrate to load:

• Light / recreational weeks — low-intensity or skill-based activity: around 3–5 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day.^[3]
• Club and serious players training most days — a moderate programme of roughly an hour a day: 5–7 g/kg/day.^[3]
• Heaviest loads — a fast bowler through a multi-day match in the heat, or dense back-to-back play — up to about 6–10 g/kg/day, the band the framework sets for one to three hours a day of moderate-to-high-intensity work.^[3]

Notice the top of cricket's range sits where an endurance runner's middle is: the same framework reserves 8–12 g/kg/day for an extreme commitment of four to five hours a day, which is not cricket.^[3] That placement is a judgement about hours, not a claim that the game is easy: few cricketers spend four to five hours a day working at moderate-to-high intensity even in a long match, so most sit in the 5–7 g/kg band, and only the highest-workload roles and days climb higher. The practical point is that these dials should move with your week — a two-day match or a bowling-heavy session warrants more than a quiet net or a rest day.

Protein matters too, for repair and adaptation rather than fuel. The same position stand puts athlete protein at roughly 1.2–2.0 g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day^[3], and it's a reasonable judgement to place a fast bowler — who takes a real musculoskeletal pounding — toward the top of that band. Spread it across the day rather than piling it into one meal: the stand suggests about 0.3 g/kg per meal, roughly 15–25 g of quality protein per feed across the usual range of athlete body sizes, repeated every three to five hours.^[3] Include a serving after a hard day's play. The eating-for-results guide covers the broader nutrition picture in depth.

Before play — the pre-match meal

You may be batting first thing or padded up for hours, so start topped up. Established guidance describes a carbohydrate-focused meal of roughly 1–4 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight, eaten around one to four hours before exercise lasting more than an hour^[3] — the larger amounts earlier, when you have time to digest, and a smaller top-up (a banana, a piece of toast, a sports drink) closer to the start. For a full day in whites, breakfast is not the meal to skip.

The art is tolerance, not just grams. Favour familiar, lower-fibre, lower-fat carbohydrate you've rehearsed — porridge, cereal, toast, a bagel, rice, fruit — because the position stand advises that choices high in fat, protein or fibre may need to be avoided to reduce the risk of gut trouble during an event.^[3] And the golden rule of any match morning applies: nothing new. The breakfast, the coffee, the timing should all be things your gut has already met.

During a long innings or day — steady, not heavy

This is where cricket fuelling is quietly different from endurance sport. Because the work comes in short bursts rather than continuously, you are not trying to shovel in as much carbohydrate as your gut can absorb. Across the longer formats, roughly 30–60 g of carbohydrate per hour of active play is plenty — the rate the guidance sets for endurance and “stop and start” sport lasting one to two and a half hours, and well short of the up-to-90 g/h reserved for events beyond about two and a half hours.^[2][3] The goal is stable blood sugar for concentration and steady fluid replacement, not a big stomach-load in the middle of an over.

How you actually take that in depends on the format. The rows below are practical ways to spread that hourly range across a cricket day rather than measured research figures:

In practice that means using the drinks breaks for a small carbohydrate-and-fluid top-up — a banana, a piece of fruit, a sports drink, a gel or chews if you get on with them — and, when you're padded up and waiting, grazing on easy carbohydrate so you don't walk out to bat on an empty, blood-sugar-dipped tank. A batter who has stood at the non-striker's end for three hours in the heat is a very different physiological proposition from one fresh at the crease, and part of what separates them is whether they kept sipping and nibbling. Fluid and carbohydrate conveniently overlap here: a sports drink delivers both, plus sodium.

One honest aside on the "sharpness" question: some players use a little caffeine to blunt the mental fatigue of a long day. The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN, United States) puts the generally effective dose at 3–6 mg per kilogram of body weight and reports that caffeine is ergogenic for cognitive function, including attention and vigilance, in most people.^[4] Treat it as an optional, individual tool — test it in training, mind the effect on sleep before an early start, and don't let it replace the basics of food, fluid and rest.

Lunch, tea and between-innings refuelling

Cricket is one of the few sports that hands you real meal breaks mid-contest, and they're a genuine chance to refuel — used well or squandered. The mistake is a large, rich, fatty lunch that leaves you heavy through the afternoon session: sports-nutrition guidance is explicit that choices high in fat, protein or fibre may need to be avoided before and during an event to reduce the risk of gut trouble.^[3] Aim instead for a moderate plate built around familiar carbohydrate — rice, pasta, potatoes, bread or fruit — with some lean protein, going easier on the very rich or greasy options, and keep drinking. Tea is a smaller window: fruit, a sandwich, a flapjack or a sports drink is usually enough to carry you to the close.

Between innings in white-ball cricket is your other refuelling point. After you've fielded a full innings — especially bowlers and keepers who worked hard — a top-up of carbohydrate and fluid before you go out to bat (or before your side does) helps you start the second half fresher. In the longest formats the same logic runs across days: the evening after play, and breakfast the next morning, are where you rebuild for the session to come.

Hydration, heat, whites and sodium

If cricket has a single most important nutrition issue, it's this one. You can be out in full whites under a hot sun for hours, sweating steadily the whole time, and the fluid you lose isn't obvious the way a runner's is. The joint position stand from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (United States), Dietitians of Canada (Canada) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM, United States) is to drink enough during exercise to limit the total body fluid deficit to under about 2% of body weight, because deficits beyond that can compromise cognitive function and aerobic performance, particularly in hot weather; decrements in sport-specific technical skills are more commonly seen once 3–5% of body weight is lost.^[3] Cricket-specific research shows why that line matters.

In controlled cricket trials, dehydration measurably degraded skill. In Australian research, seven medium-fast bowlers who finished an hour of intermittent exercise in the heat at 2.8% body-mass loss bowled significantly less accurately for both line and length than when kept hydrated, while maximal bowling velocity was unaffected.^[5] In a Sri Lankan field study in hot, humid conditions, restricting fluid to 3.7% body-mass loss significantly reduced bowling speed (by about 1%), bowling accuracy for line (by about 20%), overarm and sidearm throwing speed (about 7% and 4%) and throwing accuracy (about 14% and 22%), and slowed batsmen's running; keeping mass loss within 1% prevented any decline.^[6] Crucially, these losses come without the athlete necessarily feeling wrecked; the skill just quietly slips.

The volumes involved are real. Sweat rates in sport range from about 0.3 to 2.4 litres per hour depending on intensity, duration, fitness, heat acclimatisation and conditions^[3], and in cricket it is the quicks who lose most: in an Australian study of 20 cricketers, the three fast bowlers averaged 4.3% of body mass lost after only two sessions of play on the hot day — enough, the authors concluded, to impair physical performance.^[7]

Two practical habits follow. First, drink at every break, not just when you're parched, ideally taking something that carries both carbohydrate and sodium. Second, replace sodium, not just water: dietary sodium helps you retain the fluid you drink, which is why the guidance explicitly warns athletes not to restrict salt after heavy sweat losses.^[3] Conveniently, sports drinks and electrolyte mixes deliver carbohydrate, fluid and sodium together. The reliable way to learn your own needs is to weigh yourself before and after a hot day's play — routine pre- and post-exercise weighing is exactly how the position stand suggests estimating sweat losses^[3] — and then to replace around 125–150% of the deficit, or 1.25–1.5 litres of fluid for every kilogram of body weight lost, with sodium, to rehydrate properly.^[3]

Fast bowlers — the highest-load role

A cricket side is not one athlete repeated eleven times, and nowhere is that clearer than with the quicks. GPS tracking of Cricket Australia squad players put fast bowlers at about 22.6 km covered in a day of multi-day cricket, against roughly 16.6 km for a wicketkeeper — a long run-up and explosive delivery repeated over after over, plus the general fielding load.^[8] It is hard work while it lasts: through a 12-over spell, Western Australian development bowlers worked at between 80% and 85% of maximum heart rate.^[9] And they dry out fastest — in the Australian hydration study it was the three fast bowlers who averaged 4.3% body-mass loss after two sessions on the hot day.^[7] That combination — most running, most heat load, most repeated high-intensity effort — is why bowlers, more than anyone, need the fuelling detail on this page.

In practice, a fast bowler through a demanding match sits toward the top of the carbohydrate range (up to around 6–10 g/kg/day on the heaviest days), toward the top of the protein range (nearer 2.0 g/kg/day for repair)^[3], and needs the most attention to fluid and sodium of anyone in the side. Refuelling between spells — a top-up of carbohydrate and fluid while resting between bowling stints — and between days matters more for them than for a specialist batter having a quiet game. If you're a quick and you've been treating your fuelling like a batter's, that's probably the single biggest gap to close.

Recovery between days and games

Cricket's recovery challenge is set by its schedule. A single T20 with a rest day after it barely needs a plan. But a multi-day match, a festival week, or a run of back-to-back white-ball games gives you a short turnaround — play, sleep, play again — and that's when refuelling well between sessions decides how you hold up on day three or in the fourth game.

• Short turnaround (play again tomorrow, or later today). Prioritise carbohydrate soon after play. Where there are under eight hours between two fuel-demanding sessions, the guidance is 1.0–1.2 g of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per hour for the first four hours, then a return to normal daily fuel needs^[3], plus some protein (roughly 0.3 g/kg, about 15–25 g of quality protein) to support repair^[3] — most important for bowlers. Rehydrate deliberately alongside it, replacing around 1.25–1.5 litres of fluid per kilogram of body weight lost, with sodium.^[3]
• Normal turnaround (a full rest day or more before the next game). No need to rush. Simply hitting your usual daily carbohydrate and protein across normal balanced meals refills stores comfortably before you need them. The "eat within 30 minutes or lose everything" urgency only really bites when the recovery window is genuinely short.

Across a long season the quiet risk is the opposite of over-eating: chronically taking in too little to support the training, playing and travel. Persistent low energy availability is the trigger for what the International Olympic Committee (international) calls Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport — a syndrome of deleterious health and performance outcomes experienced by female and male athletes exposed to it.^[10] If your form is fading, you're getting ill or niggly, and sleeping badly through a heavy block, the answer is more often to eat and rehydrate more than to train harder.

Common questions

How much carbohydrate does a cricketer really need?

Less than an endurance athlete, but the base still matters. Established sports-nutrition guidance scales daily carbohydrate to training load: roughly 3–5 g per kilogram of body weight per day for light or recreational schedules, around 5–7 g/kg/day for club and serious players training most days, and up to about 6–10 g/kg/day for the heaviest loads — for example a fast bowler through a multi-day match in the heat. The bands are set by the hours you actually work at moderate-to-high intensity, so the point isn't to eat like a marathoner; it's to match the band to your role and your week, and to keep everyday carbohydrate and protein high enough that you start each day's play with a reasonably full tank and recover between days.

What should I eat and drink during a long innings or day in the field?

Think steady, not heavy. Across the longer formats, roughly 30–60 g of carbohydrate per hour of active play is plenty — cricket rarely needs the up-to-90 g/h that marathoners and cyclists push toward. In practice that means using drinks breaks for small carbohydrate-and-fluid top-ups (a banana, a piece of fruit, a sports drink, a gel if you like them), and grazing on easy carbohydrate while padded up and waiting to bat. In a short T20 you often need little or nothing beyond fluid. The aim is stable blood sugar for concentration and steady fluid replacement, not a big stomach-load mid-over.

How do I stay hydrated batting or bowling in the heat?

Hydration is arguably cricket's single biggest fuelling issue, because you can be out in full whites for hours. The long-standing sports-nutrition target is to limit the body fluid deficit to under about 2% of body weight, and cricket-specific studies back this up: at around 2.8% body-mass loss bowling accuracy for line and length suffered while bowling velocity did not, and at 3.7% loss bowling speed, bowling accuracy for line, throwing speed, throwing accuracy and batsmen's running were all impaired versus a well-hydrated trial, with bowling accuracy for line falling by about 20%. Fast bowlers dry out fastest: in one Australian study the three fast bowlers averaged 4.3% of body mass lost after only two sessions of play on a hot day. Drink at every break, include sodium (electrolytes) as well as fluid, and — the reliable way to learn your own number — weigh yourself before and after a hot day's play.

Do fast bowlers need to fuel differently from batters?

Yes, more than most people assume. GPS tracking put fast bowlers at about 22.6 km covered in a day of multi-day cricket against roughly 16.6 km for a wicketkeeper, and through a 12-over spell bowlers worked at between 80% and 85% of maximum heart rate. They also dehydrate fastest in the side. So bowlers generally sit at the higher end of the carbohydrate range (up to around 6–10 g/kg/day on heavy days), need the most attention to fluid and sodium, and benefit most from refuelling between spells and between days. A specialist batter or keeper on a quiet day needs less, closer to their normal daily intake.

What should I eat at lunch and tea without feeling sluggish?

Cricket is unusual in giving you real meal breaks mid-match, and they're a chance to refuel — but a large, fatty, heavy lunch is the classic way to feel heavy through the afternoon session, because high-fat, high-fibre choices are exactly the ones sports-nutrition guidance says to go easy on around an event, to reduce the risk of gut trouble. Favour a moderate plate built around familiar carbohydrate (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread or fruit) with some lean protein, going easier on very rich or greasy food, and keep drinking. Tea is smaller — fruit, a sandwich, a flapjack or a sports drink is usually enough. As on any match day, don't try anything new or unfamiliar at the break.

How should I recover between days of a multi-day match or back-to-back games?

This is where cricket's recovery genuinely matters, because a two- or four-day match, a festival, or a run of white-ball games gives you a short turnaround. When the next day's play is soon, prioritise carbohydrate: for under eight hours between two fuel-demanding sessions the guidance is around 1.0–1.2 g per kilogram of body weight per hour for the first four hours, plus some protein (roughly 0.3 g/kg, about 15–25 g of quality protein) to support repair. Rehydrate deliberately too — aim to replace around 1.25–1.5 litres of fluid for each kilogram of body weight lost that day, with sodium. If you have a full rest day before the next game, you don't need to rush; normal balanced meals refill stores in time.

Takeaways

• Don't assume cricket is "light". A review of cricket physiology argues its demands are easy to underestimate because the activity is intermittent, and that the repeated eccentric loading of turning and bowling may drive fatigue and injury risk.^[1] For fuelling, the pressure points are duration, heat and concentration.
• Build the base daily. Match everyday carbohydrate to load — roughly 3–5 g/kg on light weeks, 5–7 g/kg for serious players, up to 6–10 g/kg on the heaviest days — plus ~1.2–2.0 g/kg/day of protein.^[2][3]
• Start play well-fed. A familiar, carb-focused meal of about 1–4 g/kg, one to four hours before^[3]; nothing new on match morning.
• Fuel steady, not heavy, during play. Around 30–60 g of carbohydrate per hour is the rate set for stop-and-start sport of one to two and a half hours^[2][3]; little to none in a T20; small top-ups at drinks breaks; graze while waiting to bat.
• Use lunch and tea wisely. Moderate, carbohydrate-led plates — high-fat, high-fibre choices are the ones to go easy on around play.^[3]
• Hydration is the big one. Keep the fluid deficit under ~2% of body weight^[3]; at 2.8% loss bowling accuracy fell^[5] and at 3.7% bowling accuracy for line dropped about 20%, with throwing and running impaired too.^[6]
• Fast bowlers need more. Most ground covered (~22.6 km a day in multi-day cricket)^[8], 80–85% of maximum heart rate through a 12-over spell^[9], and the fastest dehydration in the side^[7] — top of the carbohydrate and protein ranges, and refuel between spells and days.
• Recover to the schedule. Short turnaround: chase carbohydrate (1.0–1.2 g/kg/h for the first four hours) and rehydrate (~1.25–1.5 L per kg lost).^[3] Full rest day: normal meals are enough. Don't chronically under-eat across a season.^[10]

If you remember one thing, make it this: cricket rewards the player who is still sharp in the last hour — clear-headed to bat, accurate to bowl, quick to field — and that sharpness is built from steady blood sugar and good hydration far more than from any clever pre-match trick. Strathlon's job is to keep that base honest by adjusting your targets around the days you actually log, so the everyday fuelling that underpins a long day in whites is one less thing to guess at.

References

Sources for the specific figures on this page. Where a number reflects established consensus rather than a single trial, the citation is to the relevant expert body’s position stand, with the country or region that body belongs to named — guidance is written by national and regional organisations, and no one country’s advice is universal. The general fuelling and hydration numbers come from a joint United States and Canadian position stand and from international peer-reviewed research; the cricket-specific measurements come from Australian, South African and Sri Lankan research on cricketers; the caffeine dose comes from a United States society’s position stand; and the under-fuelling section draws on the International Olympic Committee’s consensus statement. None of the sources cited here is produced or funded by a commercial sports-nutrition interest.

1. Noakes TD, Durandt JJ. Physiological requirements of cricket. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2000;18(12):919–929. — South African review of cricket physiology (University of Cape Town / Sports Science Institute of South Africa). It records the suggestion that cricket's demands are relatively mild except in fast bowlers during prolonged bowling spells in warm conditions, and then argues against it: that the demands may be underestimated because of the intermittent nature of the activity and the generally inadequate understanding of intermittent activity, and that superior power and endurance fitness may be required to cope with the repeated eccentric muscle contractions of turning and bowling, which may account for fatigue and risk of injury in cricket. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11138982/
2. Burke LM, Hawley JA, Wong SH, Jeukendrup AE. Carbohydrates for training and competition. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2011;29(Suppl 1):S17–S27. — The carbohydrate framework later adopted as the carbohydrate table of the 2016 joint position stand; source of the 30–60 g/h target for longer events and the up-to-90 g/h figure for events over about 2.5 hours. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21660838/
3. Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: nutrition and athletic performance. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016;116(3):501–528. — Joint position stand of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (United States), Dietitians of Canada (Canada) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM, United States). Source of the 3–5, 5–7, 6–10 and 8–12 g/kg/day carbohydrate bands, the 1–4 g/kg pre-event meal one to four hours before exercise over 60 minutes, the 30–60 g/h and up-to-90 g/h during-exercise rates, the 1–1.2 g/kg/h speedy-refuelling rate for the first four hours, 1.2–2.0 g/kg/day protein and 0.3 g/kg (15–25 g) per feed every three to five hours, the advice to avoid high-fat, high-protein and high-fibre choices around events, the 0.3–2.4 L/h range of sweat rates, the <2% body-weight fluid-deficit target, the 3–5% threshold for technical-skill decrements, the 125–150% (1.25–1.5 L per kg) rehydration figure, the advice not to restrict sodium after heavy sweat losses, and the statements on over-drinking and hyponatraemia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26920240/
4. Guest NS, VanDusseldorp TA, Nelson MT, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: caffeine and exercise performance. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2021;18(1):1. — Position stand of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN, United States); source of the 3–6 mg/kg dose range and the statement that caffeine is ergogenic for cognitive function, including attention and vigilance. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7777221/
5. Devlin LH, Fraser SF, Barras NS, Hawley JA. Moderate levels of hypohydration impairs bowling accuracy but not bowling velocity in skilled cricket players. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2001;4(2):179–187. — Australian trial in seven medium-fast bowlers; 2.8% body-mass loss impaired bowling accuracy for line and length but not bowling velocity. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11548917/
6. Gamage JP, De Silva AP, Nalliah AK, Galloway SDR. Effects of dehydration on cricket specific skill performance in hot and humid conditions. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2016;26(6):531–541. — Sri Lankan field study of 10 fast bowlers, 12 fielders and 8 batsmen; at 3.7% body-mass loss bowling speed fell 1.0%, bowling accuracy for line 19.8%, overarm and sidearm throwing speed 6.6% and 4.1% and throwing accuracy 14.2% and 22.3%, with batsmen’s running slowed; keeping mass loss within 1% prevented any decline. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27097223/
7. Gore CJ, Bourdon PC, Woolford SM, Pederson DG. Involuntary dehydration during cricket. International Journal of Sports Medicine. 1993;14(7):387–395. — Australian study of 20 cricketers across cool, warm and hot conditions; the three fast bowlers averaged 4.3% of initial body mass lost after only two sessions of play on the hot day. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8244605/
8. Petersen CJ, Pyne D, Dawson B, Portus M, Kellett A. Movement patterns in cricket vary by both position and game format. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2010;28(1):45–52. — GPS tracking of 42 Cricket Australia Centre of Excellence players; fast bowlers undertook the greatest workload of any position, covering 22.6 ± 4.0 km a day in multi-day cricket against 16.6 ± 2.1 km for wicketkeepers, and the authors conclude that the shorter formats are more intensive per unit of time while multi-day cricket has the greater overall physical load. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20013461/
9. Burnett AF, Elliott BC, Marshall RN. The effect of a 12-over spell on fast bowling technique in cricket. Journal of Sports Sciences. 1995;13(4):329–341. — Nine Western Australian Cricket Association development-squad fast bowlers worked at between 80.3% (first over) and 84.7% (twelfth over) of maximum heart rate. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7474047/
10. Mountjoy M, Ackerman KE, Bailey DM, et al. 2023 International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) consensus statement on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs). British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2023;57(17):1073–1097. — Consensus statement of the International Olympic Committee (international); describes REDs as a syndrome of deleterious health and performance outcomes experienced by female and male athletes exposed to low energy availability. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37752011/

This is general educational information, not medical, dietary or coaching advice. The sports-nutrition figures here are drawn from established consensus and are framed as population-level guides — individual needs vary widely with body size, role, format, conditions, gut tolerance and health, and are best personalised with a qualified professional. Anyone with a health condition, a history of disordered eating, or who is pregnant or postpartum, or who suspects under-fuelling or a heat-illness or hydration problem, should consult a sports physician or registered dietitian before making changes. See our Terms for more.

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