Relationships between jump and sprint performance in first-class county cricketers

Objectives: Research across a number of sports has identified a meaningful relationship between jump and sprint performance. The aim of this study was to investigate these relationships in first-class county cricketers. Design and Methods: Using a within-subjects repeated measures design, sixteen male cricketers (23.8 ± 3.7 years; body mass, 85.40 ± 9.37 kg; height, 185.34 ± 6.90 cm) performed countermovement jumps (CMJ), depth drop jumps (DDJ), and 20m sprints on three separate occasions. Results: Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) demonstrated a high within- (ICC ≥0.936; p≤0.001) and between- (ICC ≥0.807; p≤0.001) session reliability for all tests. Low smallest detectable differences (SDD), between-sessions, were observed for CMJ height (5.26%) and sprint times (2.72-5.80%). CMJ height demonstrated the strongest correlation with 20m sprint time (r = - 0.741, p = 0.006, power = 0.99), whereas DDJ reactive strength index demonstrated a moderate, although non-significant relationship with 20m sprint time (r = - 0.495, p>0.05, power = 0.70). Conclusion: The results demonstrate that athletes with a higher CMJ performance demonstrate quicker 20m sprint time. These findings also imply that the acceleration phase of a sprint may involve the slow stretch shortening cycle (SSC) to a greater extent than the fast SSC. Strength and conditioning coaches should, therefore, focus on enhancing these attributes through the development of maximal strength and enhancement of SSC ability through the use of appropriate plyometric tasks. Additionally, when identifying performance changes in CMJ height and 5, 10 and 20 m sprint times, changes of >5.26%, 5.80%, 2.98%, and 2.72%, respectively, signify a meaningful change.