Cricket has a long history and is played all over the world, but not a great deal is known about the physiological requirements of cricket. It is generally thought that the physiological demands of cricket are no that great because players are seemed to stand around in the field for hours or sat in the pavilion waiting to bat. Except for maybe fast bowlers who bowl for long periods. But Noakes (2000) states that this misunderstanding maybe because the intermittent nature of the activity and the generally inadequate understanding of the physiological demands of the intermittent activity'. in one of Noakes studies it was revealed that some players in the South African 1999 World Cup cricket team in a variety of measures of expolsive (anaerobic) power and aerobic endurance capacity were as fit' as South African rugby players competing in the 1999 Rugby World Cup. This interested me as the physiological demands seem to be far greater than those of cricket. .
Wilmore (1994 p4) states physiology is the study of body function' so it is the study of how our organ systems, tissues and cells work. Wilmore (1994 p4) states Exercise Physiology is the study of how, are bodies structures and functions are altered when we are exposed to acute and chronic bouts of exercise. All living things depend on energy to sustain life; humans take energy from food Katch (1997) states energy as the capacity or ability to perform work'. .
All energy originates from the sun as light energy. Chemical reactions in plants (photosynthesis) convert this light into stored chemical energy. The next step is when either an animal or a human eats a plant, or in turn we eat the animal. Energy is stored in food as carbohydrates, fats and proteins. These basic food components are broken down in our cells to release the stored energy, which allows human movement.
As sports scientists it is important to know how the human body releases this energy so we can perform in our sporting activities.