Variability in and physical demands of international seam bowlers on one-day and Twenty20 international matches across five years

Abstract Objectives To quantify and compare the match demands and variability of international One-Day (ODI) with Twenty20 (T20) cricket matches and to compare ODI match demands when competing home and away. Design Single cohort, longitudinal observation. Methods Thirteen international male seam bowlers across 204 matches (ODI = 160; T20 = 44) were investigated over five-years (2015−2019). Using global positioning sensors and accelerometers, physical demands were quantified using distance covered at different velocities and the number of entries into high and low intensity acceleration and deceleration bands. Variability was quantified using coefficient of variation (CV) and smallest worthwhile change. Results Significantly greater (p  4 m∙s2 (within-player ODI CV = 79.2%. T20 CV = 77.2%. Between-player ODI CV = 84.7%. T20 = 38.8%) and distance covered >25 km h−1 (within-player ODI CV = 65.5%. T20 = 64.1%) showed the greatest variability. Conclusions Players are exposed to different physical demands in ODI Vs T20 matches, but not for home Vs away ODI matches. Practitioners should be aware of the large variability in high-speed/intensity accelerations and decelerations across matches.