IMPACT OF PRE-EXERCISE CARBOHYDRATE INTAKE ON SPRINT PERFORMANCE AND FATIGUE AMONG COMPETITIVE CRICKET PLAYERS: A CROSSOVER ANALYSIS OF A DATASET

Abstract

Background: Cricket involves intermittent high-intensity sprints (running between the wickets, fielding and bowling runs) interspersed with periods of low-intensity activity and pre-exercise carbohydrate (CHO) strategies among players are often not evidence-based. It remains unclear if a small pre-exercise dose of CHO will have an effect on repeated-sprint performance and perceived fatigue in cricketers.

Objective: To demonstrate, from a data set, how a two-condition crossover design involving pre-exercise CHO (1g·kg-1 body mass, 60 minutes prior to testing) and a non-caloric control can be analysed and reported as related to sprint performance and fatigue in competitive cricket players.

Methods: 20 hypothetical players were used for the generation of data under both conditions. It was assumed that a six-sprint 20 m repeated-sprint test was performed. Outcomes were mean sprint time, sprint decrement (%) and post-test rating of perceived exertion (RPE, 0–10). Two-sided paired t tests, Cohen's dz (standardised effects), 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and Holm-adjusted p values were used for the evaluation of conditions, with Wilcoxon signed rank analysis used to analyse RPE.

Results: Mean sprint time did not differ between control (3.27 ± 0.12 s) and CHO (3.26 ± 0.15 s; mean difference −0.01 s, 95% CI −0.04 to 0.03; p = 0.644). Sprint decrement was numerically lower with CHO (5.26 ± 2.05% vs 5.63 ± 1.54%; −0.37 percentage points, 95% CI −0.90 to 0.17; p = 0.168). Post-test RPE was lower with CHO (7.00 ± 1.03 vs 7.55 ± 0.83; −0.55, 95% CI −0.87 to −0.23; p = 0.002; Wilcoxon p = 0.005; Holm-adjusted p = 0.006).

Conclusion: The pre-exercise CHO dose was not found to be related to sprint time or sprint decrement in this data set, but was related to lower perceived exertion. As the data are synthetic, any conclusions drawn from these results should be viewed as an example of how to use and report the results of this analysis, and should be re-run against actual participant data.