Round One is here.
Are you ready?

Some players arrive at Round One after eight weeks of structured cricket, running and gym work. Others have had three net sessions, two rain cancellations, a wedding, a cold and a vague intention to start running last Tuesday.

Most sit somewhere in between.

At this point, worrying about what you should have done in August is not especially useful. The better question is:

I use four questions to answer it.

1. Demand
2. Exposure
3. Response
4. Adjustment

1. Demand: what might Saturday ask you to do?

Start with your role. Not your position on the team sheet. Your physical role.

• Fast bowler. Run-ups, delivery intensity, spell length, repeat spells, fielding and time on feet.
• Batter. Time batting, repeated accelerations, turning, running twos and maintaining skill while tired.
• Wicketkeeper. Repeated crouching, lateral movement, getting up and down, catching and throwing.
• Fielder. Long quiet periods mixed with sprinting, changing direction, diving and hard throwing.

No prediction will be perfect. Cricket rarely behaves so politely. A bowler expected to deliver five overs might need to bowl ten. An opener might bat for five minutes or three hours.

Your first full-intensity sprint, long batting effort, hard throwing session or demanding bowling spell should ideally not arrive during Round One.

2. Exposure: what have you done recently?

This matters more than what your programme said you were supposed to do.

• 36 balls. Bowled twice each week for six weeks.
• 36 balls. First meaningful bowl in three weeks.

The number is identical. The meaning is not.

Look back over the last few weeks. For bowling, consider ball count, bowling days, run-up length, intensity, spell length, recovery and whether you have bowled while fatigued. For batting and fielding, consider running, sprinting, turning, throwing and time on feet.

Fast bowling: drills are not the same as bowling load

Walk-throughs, short-run technical drills and wrist-position work serve a purpose. They help rhythm and technique. They are not the same physical exposure as full-run bowling with intent.

As the run-up lengthens, momentum increases and delivery intensity rises, the demand changes quickly. So does the effect of fatigue.

There is no single safe weekly ball count for every bowler. Age, training history, injury history, recent workload, intensity, recovery and expected match role all change the dose.

Nets are useful. Matches are different.

Nets provide controlled skill exposure. They are excellent for rebuilding rhythm, increasing bowling volume and getting batting repetitions.

But matches contain demands nets often remove. Batters run between wickets. Bowlers complete spells, field between overs and bowl again. Fielders stand around for long periods before suddenly sprinting, diving or throwing at high effort.

Centre-wicket sessions and practice matches reproduce more of this. Even then, merely attending is not enough. If you did not bat, barely bowled or stood at fine leg for most of the session, fill the gaps elsewhere.

Do not forget time on feet

Cricket includes long periods of standing and walking, interrupted by short, intense efforts. That combination creates fatigue.

Your sprint at 10:15 in the morning is not the same as your sprint at 4:45 after several hours in the field. Bowling six overs fresh is not the same as returning for another spell later.

Longer cricket sessions, centre-wicket practice, walking and easy aerobic work all help. The goal is not exhaustion. It is making match duration less novel.

Batters need more than throwdowns

Batting preparation often gets reduced to balls faced. An innings also involves accelerations, hard stops, repeated turns, backing up and skill under fatigue.

If you have faced 400 balls in the nets but have barely run a two all winter, Round One might introduce your hamstrings to this oversight.

Throwing needs preparation too

Throwing has volume and intensity, like bowling. Think about distance, effort, number of throws, throwing on the move and throwing while fatigued.

A player who has done almost no throwing should not use the final training session before Round One as a high-volume boundary-throwing competition.

Keep running and lifting

Once cricket starts, players often stop the training which helped prepare them for cricket. The amount should change. The qualities should not disappear.

• Speed. Keep regular exposure to faster running. The volume does not need to be large.
• Conditioning. Use aerobic work or intervals when cricket training does not provide enough running exposure.
• Strength. Keep squats, hinges, lunges, calf work, pushes, pulls and trunk training in the week.

You do not need 17 supposedly cricket-specific exercises involving cables, wobble boards and a medicine ball. A good strength programme should mostly resemble a good strength programme.

What if your pre-season was poor?

Work out what is missing, then decide which gaps matter most for your role. A fast bowler with limited bowling exposure might play but bowl fewer overs. A returning player might field in a role which reduces sprinting or long throwing demand.

A planned restriction is better than pretending missed preparation never happened.

What should match week look like?

There is no universal schedule, but one principle travels well: do enough early in the week to maintain physical qualities, then reduce unnecessary fatigue as the match approaches.

• Early week. Harder gym work, conditioning, larger bowling volume, longer batting exposure.
• Midweek. Cricket training, role-specific exposure, meaningful but controlled skill work.
• Day before. Easy movement, a few accelerations, light throwing, rhythm work or a familiar short primer.

You should finish the final session feeling prepared, not congratulating yourself for surviving it.

3. Response: use the 24-hour check

• During. Did pain increase? Did movement change? Did speed, strength or confidence drop?
• Later that day. Did soreness settle as expected, or keep building?
• Next morning. Are you close to your usual baseline, or meaningfully worse?

Normal training soreness is one thing. Increasing focal pain, swelling, stiffness, weakness or loss of function is another. If a session produces a meaningful deterioration which persists the next day, review the dose rather than automatically repeating it.

Playing with an injury

Round One tends to generate a peculiar medical phenomenon. Players who have worried about an injury for three weeks become completely cured when teams are selected on Thursday.

Unfortunately, tissue biology has not read the team sheet.

• What needs protection? Which loads currently irritate or threaten the injured area?
• What should continue? Keep safe fitness, strength and cricket work rather than stopping everything.
• What must be demonstrated? Expose the player to the key match demands before asking them to perform them in competition.

Persistent pain, increasing symptoms, swelling, weakness, loss of movement or an unclear diagnosis deserve proper assessment.

4. Adjustment: use Round One as information

Round One is not the end of preparation. It is the start of the next training phase.

Track what you did. Notice what made you tired. Notice what became sore. Notice which parts of your preparation held up well and which did not. Then adjust the next week.

The Round One readiness check

• I know what my likely match role involves physically.
• I have recently completed meaningful cricket-specific exposure.
• I have bowled, sprinted, turned and thrown at useful intensity where my role requires it.
• I have spent enough time on my feet for match duration not to feel completely novel.
• I have kept some running and strength work in the week.
• I have trained in match footwear on the surfaces I will use.
• I recover reasonably well by the following morning.
• If my preparation has been interrupted, my match role reflects my current capacity.
• Any persistent pain, swelling, weakness or loss of function has been assessed appropriately.

Final thought

You do not need a perfect pre-season. You need an honest view of where you are and a sensible next step.

And if your pre-season was terrible?

Welcome to club cricket.

Start from where you are. Do not try to fix it all by Thursday night.