In the recently concluded series against India, the number of injuries sustained by Sri Lankan cricketers was highlighted in some sections of the media as partly responsible for contributing to the heavy defeats suffered by the national team. With the amount of international cricket that is being played today injuries to players have now become part and parcel of the sport and the role of the physiotherapist and others who form the support staff have become increasingly in demand.
“Injuries are always multi-factorial very hard to pinpoint. In Sri Lanka cricket it’s well documented, they had a number of injuries to their fast bowlers, but it’s not only Sri Lanka who are suffering from this, Cricket Australia had fantastic resources a huge number of staff, the real cutting edge in terms of sports science but at the same time they had a number of issues with some of their important fast bowlers getting long term injuries as well,” said Mount who was recently on holiday in Sri Lanka and caught up with some of our national cricketers during the Indian series.
“Sri Lanka cricket injuries are not dissimilar to some of the other countries. We might not necessarily have the depth in our fast bowlers so it is highlighted a little bit more, but at the same time we need to strive and try to minimise those injuries as much as we can,” he said.
“Injuries in international cricket have overall increased and with all year around sport there is very little time off. There’s been a lot of talk about the introduction of T20 cricket the explosive nature of the game puts the batsman more at risk and what it also does to fast bowlers is from one week they go from bowling 20 overs in five T20 games to being asked to bowl 50-60 overs in a five-day Test - a big jump in their work load. With that comes the risk of injuries. What the body doesn’t like is the big change chopping and changing from T20 to ODI to Test cricket. It all comes down to planning, some things you can control some we can’t. That’s where the support staff comes in and gets the work load to a level where the body is ready to compete.”
Mount said one of the biggest risk factors for injury is past injuries. “That’s where things really need to start. From a young age you need to build strong resilient durable teenagers. It would hold them in better stead when they reach international cricket. Get 11-12 year-old kids in the gym early, not to carry heavy weights but how to move properly and teaching them basic movements. Soccer and touch football helps in agility in fielding and being able to move properly. A guy like (Tillakaratne) Dilshan who played lots of sports when he was young does fantastically well.”
SUCCESS AND FAILURES
The period Mount was contracted with Sri Lanka Cricket was a time the national team enjoyed immense success as well as failures.
“Five and a half years was a very successful period in Sri Lanka cricket which was great to be a part of, lots of good onfield memories,” recalled Mount. “The 2014 T20 World Cup win was fantastic especially after losing the one in 2012 in Colombo and knowing that some of those guys had played in four or five losing World Cup finals. That was a fantastic experience to be a part of. Winning the Test series away against England (2014) the first time Sri Lanka had done that and winning the ODIs and T20I and also the Australian series 12 months ago when they came here. Australia probably thought they were going to win and came fairly confident. To beat them 3-0 in such convincing fashion is great to be a part of.”
The biggest disappointment that sticks on Mount’s mind is Sri Lanka losing the World T20 final at home to the West Indies in 2012.
“The 2012 World T20 final was obviously disappointing to lose and was quite hard on the players, we had a fantastic tournament, and we had a good chance to win, To be at home and see the Sri Lankan people how excited they were lining the streets on the way to the ground. That defeat obviously hit the players very hard and being part of the support staff, it was quite disappointing as well. That was from a team perspective,” said Mount.
“From a personal perspective it’s obviously hard when you see guys work very hard and they get injured. It’s their livelihood but at the same time it can be very rewarding helping them through that process to get back on the park and see them doing very well.”
FAST BOWLERS MOST INJURY PRONE
According to Mount the players who suffer from the most injuries and the more serious ones are the fast bowlers.
“The injuries for most time out of the game is probably stress fractures in the lower back it’s very common in junior cricket and probably upto the age of 25, Sri Lanka fast bowlers have a very high risk of that,” noted Mount. “The most notable one in my time with the national team was Dushmantha Chameera in the England series last year. He got that lumbar stress fracture but luckily we picked it up very early and he got back for a Test against South Africa after 8-9 months.
It takes a bit of time to get his confidence up as well in coming back. You need to have that confidence in that body also after being out a long period of time. So you see him taking a while to get back to where he was. It could be a quite a debilitating injury.
“Stress fractures in the ankles and feet are very common with fast bowlers. (Lasith) Malinga’s knee injury leading to the 2015 World Cup and Suranga Lakmal had a similar pain a couple of years before that which resulted in about six months out. Those are the two more common and long lasting injuries. Lasith had another stress fracture in the knee which is a bit more uncommon for fast bowlers but he’s had that injury previously which affected his Test career. It was a difficult period for him. It’s great to see him back now and hope he can have a longer career.
“Bony stress fractures are quite common but there are also soft tissue injures and hamstring injuries that are also quite common. T20 cricket means high speed running not only fast bowlers but also the batsmen who suffer from soft tissue injuries. That is due to the fact that T20 and even ODI cricket as played now is really intense,” he said.
HARD DECISION
Mount was contracted with SLC until August 2017 but when Tennis Australia offered him an opening it was an offer too good to miss out on.
“I got a really good opportunity with Tennis Australia a chance to try something new, a new challenge and the lure of going home and base myself at Melbourne again. I wasn’t sure when another opportunity like that would come up to be with the best male tennis players in Australia,” said Mount. “It was a hard decision. I loved my time in Sri Lanka.”
Mount was working at the Australian Institute of Sports (AIS) based in Canberra when he applied for the job of physiotherapist for the Sri Lanka team and on the recommendation of the AIS and former Sri Lanka team physio Alex Kountouris he was signed up.
“Like any job when you first come in you are meeting new people and it takes a few months to get settled. At the same time as soon as I arrived all the players the staff was extremely welcoming, very hospitable as most Sri Lankans tend to be. That helped a lot,” said Mount. “I had a couple of family members around at the time as well and that helped settle me in. The 5½ years was always busy looking after the national team and also other national players’ injuries and rehab processes as well when I was with the team overseas. Overall it was a fantastic experience.”
“Currently I am enjoying my new job with Tennis Australia but I look fondly at my memories and I also met my Sri Lankan girl friend. Great to come back and see her and her family and catch up with the Sri Lankan guys in the Kandy team hotel,” concluded Mount.
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