In cricket, U19 world cup has always been the place where the boys thrive to become men. From history we have seen so many talented youngsters emerging from this competition who became legends later on. The ongoing U19 men’s cricket world cup has already produced so many sparkling moments that it is high time we focus on these budding cricketers. India being the most successful team in this format, the tournament even draws higher attention in this part of the world. The unique physical and physiological demand of junior athletes always posed a challenge to the sports medicine community. Cricket is no exception specially being a highly technical sport.

Long-term injury surveillance was carried out in Australia, England and South Africa but mostly in elite adult cricketers. However, there remains a relative lack of published data on injury patterns and risk factors in young cricket players. In junior club cricketers, injury rates increase with age and level of play, and injuries to fielders and batsmen occur as frequently as to bowlers. The relationship between high bowling workload and injury in young Australian fast bowlers was also reported. Injured bowlers bowled more frequently with shorter rest periods between bowling sessions than uninjured peers. Hence preventive strategies need to be developed for all junior players and not just bowlers, as suggested previously.

Therefore, it is important that schools, clubs, coaches and parents, continue to monitor the workloads of these young bowlers to ensure that they do not exceed the recommended guidelines. In addition, young fast bowlers need to use an appropriate technique and be adequately conditioned to deal with the demands of fast bowling. As reported earlier on adult cricketers, young bowlers were found to be at the greatest risk of injury, and the lower limbs being the most commonly injured site. Hence education plays the key role, particularly with respect to the reduction and prevention of overuse injuries to young fast bowlers. However, further research is required to provide coaches with evidence-based results that could assist with optimum coaching, training and practice methods to optimise technical and tactical skills while reducing the risk of injury, particularly in younger players not only for matches but also in training sessions. Finally, the differences in injury patterns between schoolboys and adult cricketers should reinforce that young cricketers are not a smaller version of adult cricketers and point to a need for different types of practice and match play at different age and level of play.