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Former South African cricketer Ab de Villiers in action. (FILE photo)
India has introduced the Bronco Test as a new fitness parameter for players to get selected into the cricket team. New strength and conditioning coach Adrian le Roux has suggested a fitness test for the Men in Blue, which is primarily used in Rugby. Former South African cricketer was quite critical of the method.
“I actually didn’t even know when the team told me about it. I said, ‘What is a Bronco Test?’ But when they explained it to me, I knew exactly what it was. I’ve been doing it ever since I was 16 years old,” de Villiers said. “Over here in South Africa, we call it the sprint repeat ability test,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“It’s one of the worst you can do,” he added. “I very clearly remember at the University of Pretoria, also at SuperSport Park, in the cold winter mornings of South Africa in particular, where there’s not a lot of oxygen. The altitude here is, I think, 1,500 meters above sea level. So, not a lot of oxygen, and those lungs would burn,” he added.
Soham Desai speaks on the Bronco test
Earlier speaking on R Ashwin’s podcast, former Indian fitness and training coach Soham Desai broke down the similarities and the differences between tests like the new Bronco Test and the age-old Yo-Yo Test.
“This test is not a new test. It’s just a new introduction to the test for Indian cricketers. Basically, what happens is that this Bronco Test, the Yo-Yo Test, the 2 kilometers (run)—these are all tools. The quality they assess is aerobic fitness. Basically, a new Strength and Conditioning Coach has come into the Indian set-up, and based on their background and experience, they’ve brought this test. But the quality that is getting assessed is the same as what happened in the Yo-Yo Test.”
“The Yo-Yo Test is a bit of a cricket-specific test. In it, you have to run like we do when you take two runs. With every passing stage, the difficulty level increases, and with every passing stage, fatigue builds up. So, under fatigue, you have to match a higher intensity and higher repeatability, which is assessed to see how fit a person is to play in similar situations in back-to-back matches throughout the year. The Bronco Test is such that (completing it in) five minutes is a good score. Above five minutes is below average, and under five minutes is good, and four and a half minutes is excellent. You have to run continuously for five minutes and cover a total distance of around 1100 to 1200 meters with turns and repeatability involved. But in this test, unlike the Yo-Yo where the pace increases in every stage, it’s not like the pace increases in every stage or every minute. So basically, for five minutes, you have to run that distance with 20 meters distance, 40 meters distance, 60 meters distance, touch and come back, that’s how it is,” Desai said.
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