Stretching before a game is one of those Good Things we have been brought up by PE teachers and coaches to do. Very often we feel guilty when they don't get done because they are dead boring.

Guilt no more: Stretching is a bad idea.

You see, research has been done into the effects of stretching on top athletes. Boffins compared 2 groups: One lot stretched as part of their warm up, the others didn't.

Guess what?

The group who stretched all did worse than the group who didn't. That means stretching will make you a worse cricketer. Stop immediately!

Of course, it's still very important to warm up properly. Just don't stop your warm up to do all those stretches. Instead make sure your whole body gets moving through dynamic mobility so you can ease yourself into the first ball of the match.

It's also a good idea to do your stretches during the cool down. It will improve your flexibility and there is no worry about damaging your performance after the game is there?

Maybe you can still feel a little bit of guilt for not stretching then. But at least it will be well informed.