Cricket Fitness Tests

In a previous post, I had commented on the inability of the Pakistani squad to assure the fitness of their players. Enter into evidence the fast and furious injuries to Shoaib Akhtar, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul and now Shabbir Ahmed.

Here are a few profiles of what fitness in cricket entails. If one checks out www.fitness4cricket.com, there is a nice profile of the seven tests which can be used to check for cricket fitness, but it also speaks about the baseline tests and fitness profiles which every cricketer should go through. Now one could concede that most of these tests are about professional, club level cricket in England and Australia, but if it can apply there, it sure as heck can apply to the demanding, and intense world of international cricket. Can we know for sure if the Pakistani players are being made to work through the basic tests, and then are these tests being used to judge and gauge fitness, or is fitness like most things Pakistani based on what someone had to eat that morning? Not really sure.