Sri Lankan cricketers may face the chop under a new monitoring system designed to ensure they shed what is called excess fat if they are to continue playing for the team.
To make the project and monitoring process a reality, the players will cme under the scrutiny of their trainers at their respective clubs who will be in possession of state-of-the-art performance-enhancing equipment, including skinfold callipers and pocket radars with smart displays provided by Sri Lanka Cricket.
Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said a total of 17 clubs received the devices enabling trainers to assess players’ body fat percentage by measuring fat thickness at specific body locations thereby tracking fitness progress to assess body composition, ensuring players maintain peak physical condition for competitive cricket.
The Pocket Radar devices will offer precise ball speed measurements and other performance metrics according to SLC.
“It is important for the clubs to focus on player fitness and apart from building the skill set of the players, a weightage should also be given to maintaining the fitness levels of the players. Any player to get national recognition should fulfill the fitness criteria set by the selectors,” said SLC’s CEO Ashley de Silva.
Sri Lanka Cricket will also train the fitness trainers of the players as well as coaches of clubs on how to use the fitness monitoring equipment under the guidance of its Director of Cricket Jerme Jayaratne.
“The skinfold testing equipment will help cubs measure evaluate and implement necessary steps to keep the players fit and prepared for competitive cricket at all times,” said Jayaratne.
He said the Pocket Radars will enable caches to consistently measure speeds and monitor varius aspects of player performance in real time.
Sri Lanka Cricket contends the introduction of he devices is a major step to take the players into the future to fall in line with the rest of the competing teams on the international scene in terms of fitness and performance.
