Economics Essay 28: Utility of Price Elasticity of Demand

Evaluate the extent to which knowledge of price elasticity of demand is important for decision making by firms and governments.

Knowledge of price elasticity of demand (PED) is crucial for decision-making by firms and governments. It helps assess how changes in price will impact quantity demanded, revenue, consumer welfare, and market outcomes. Let's evaluate the importance of PED knowledge, while also considering its limitations:

Strengths:

1. Pricing Decisions for Firms: Firms can use PED to determine the optimal pricing strategy. If demand is elastic (PED > 1), a decrease in price will result in a proportionately larger increase in quantity demanded, leading to higher total revenue. Conversely, if demand is inelastic (PED < 1), a price increase will result in a smaller decrease in quantity demanded, leading to higher total revenue. Firms can visually analyze the demand curve to understand elasticity and make informed pricing decisions.

2. Taxation and Subsidy Policies for Governments: PED helps governments design effective taxation and subsidy policies. If demand is elastic, a tax increase will result in a larger decrease in quantity demanded and potential tax revenue. Conversely, if demand is inelastic, a tax increase may not significantly affect quantity demanded but can generate higher tax revenue. Subsidies can also be targeted towards goods with relatively elastic demand to boost consumption and market outcomes.

3. Market Interventions and Regulation: PED knowledge is crucial for governments in addressing externalities and market failures. It helps determine optimal tax or subsidy rates and assess the impact of price controls or regulations on quantity demanded and consumer welfare. Diagrams, such as supply and demand curves, illustrate the effects of market interventions on market equilibrium and outcomes.

Weaknesses:

1. Limited Scope: PED may not capture all factors influencing consumer behavior, such as income, preferences, availability of substitutes, and market dynamics. Other factors can significantly impact demand but are not reflected in PED alone.

2. Simplistic Assumptions: PED assumes a linear relationship between price and quantity demanded, which may not hold true in reality. Demand curves can be nonlinear, with varying elasticities at different price ranges. Using a single PED value might oversimplify demand behavior.

3. Difficulty in Estimation: Accurately estimating PED can be challenging, requiring data on price and quantity demanded, appropriate time periods, and controlling for other factors. Gathering and analyzing such data can be resource-intensive and subject to limitations.

4. Time Sensitivity: Short-run and long-run PED may differ due to changes in consumer behavior and market adjustments. The time horizon must be considered, as demand elasticity can shift over time.

5. Heterogeneous Demand: PED assumes homogeneity in consumer responses, but demand elasticity can vary among market segments. Applying a single PED value to a diverse consumer base may overlook variations in responsiveness.

6. Dynamic Market Conditions: PED may not capture dynamic market changes, such as technological advancements, shifting preferences, and competitive pressures. It is essential to consider these factors alongside PED for comprehensive decision-making.

While PED is a useful tool, decision-makers should use it alongside other market analysis tools, considering broader factors to ensure a comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior and market dynamics. Awareness of the limitations of PED is crucial for effective decision-making.

Hockey - The untold story of how India lost world supremacy

by Minhaz Merchant in the Times of India

Pakistan’s hockey stars have been forced out of the lucrative new Hockey India League, patterned on the cash-rich IPL. I will leave debate on the rights and wrongs of this to a later post as a sequel to Make Pakistan pay. For the moment, let’s stick to hockey – how India lost its global supremacy and how we can regain it.

One afternoon, as I watched the late Tiger Pataudi, India’s former Test cricket captain, playing a hockey match at Bombay Gymkhana, I realized that few were aware how good a hockey player Tiger was. He had long retired from Test cricket but played a brilliant game for the club that afternoon.

Later, chatting casually, he remarked, pointing to the lush green field: “The tragedy of Indian hockey is that we no longer play on grass like this.” Tiger was appalled that the international game had switched to astroturf, putting Indian players at such a disadvantage.

Between 1928 and 1980, India won 8 Olympic gold medals in hockey. After 1980, we have not won a single hockey gold. At the 2012 London Olympics, India’s hockey team finished last in a field of 12.

The reasons for this are complex. But a principal cause is the betrayal of the country’s national sport by those elected to guard it and the ruthless duplicity of European and Australasian hockey authorities.

Till the early-1970s, hockey globally was played on grass. Indian players, bred on the fields of Punjab, Kerala and Goa, were unbeatable. Only Pakistan, with a similar lineage, offered competition.

All that changed in the mid-1970s. The International Hockey Federation (FIH) altered the rules to make synthetic astroturf the mandatory playing surface for international hockey tournaments.

The 1976 Olympics in Montreal was the first Games in which astroturf was used in hockey. For the first time since it began playing hockey in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, India did not win even a bronze medal. The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) should have objected. Whether through collusion or apathy, it did not. All Olympic Games henceforth were played on hard astroturf.

India has few astroturf grounds. They are expensive to lay (over Rs. 8 crore) and difficult to play on. While grass, on which hockey had been played internationally for nearly a century, allowed skilled Indian and Pakistani players to trap the ball, dribble and pass, astroturf suits the physicality of European and Australian hockey players based on raw power rather than technical skill.

Affluent Western countries like Holland, Germany and Australia have hundreds of astroturf grounds. The advantage is palpable. Not surprisingly, since 1980, Europe and Australia have dominated world hockey. India and Pakistan have slipped out of the world’s top five hockey-playing nations.

Indian sports administrators must share the blame. Not only were they complicit in allowing the change in playing surface from grass to synthetic astroturf, they were slow to adapt to it once the rules had been changed. Astroturf grounds were not laid. Local tournaments continued to be played on grass. When India played abroad, it started with a huge handicap.

As Sardara Singh, currently India’s best hockey international, said in a television interview, “Hockey players in India play on astroturf for the first time at the age of 19 or 20 and find it hard to adapt.”

What is the way forward? While astroturf cannot now be wished away, India can use its growing commercial influence to host a separate annual field hockey tournament. The game would be transformed. Just as tennis is played on different surfaces (grass at Wimbledon, clay at the French Open and hard courts at the US and Australian Opens), there is no reason why hockey can’t have two optional surfaces: astroturf and grass.

Like tennis players adapt to grass, clay and hard courts within a span of months (between the French Open in May, Wimbledon in July and the US Open in September), so can professional hockey players. Grass is hockey’s natural surface. It tests skill not just strength.

India’s hockey authorities, fractured by internecine rivalries, have little global clout. It is India’s corporate sector, with an interest in future Olympic gold medals, which must lead the campaign to restore natural turf as one of two alternative playing surfaces of choice in future international hockey tournaments. The new Hockey India League could set the example in its next edition. Sponsorships for field hockey tournaments would follow.

India has begun winning Olympic medals in individual sports since the Beijing Games but none in team sports like hockey. That must change. In India less than 0.1% of the population (around one million) has access to the facilities, nutrition and training athletes from Western countries and China do. In “sports-access” terms, our population is equivalent to New Zealand’s. It is no shame to win fewer medals than smaller, richer countries. But it is a shame not to give our national sport, hockey, a level playing field.

India's poster boy for vegetarianism – he's just fathered a child at 96

Andrew Buncombe in The Independent

The world's oldest father has been recruited by activists in India who maintain lifelong vegetarians retain their "vigour" better than others.

Ramajit Raghav, who shot to celebrity two years ago at the age of 94 when he first became a father, features in a new campaign by for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) India.

A photograph of Mr Raghav, who recently fathered his second child, Ranjit, at the age of 96, shows him cradling the baby with the headline "Vegetarians Still Got It at Age 96".

"I have been a vegetarian all my life, and I credit my stamina and virility to my diet," said the elderly father from the state of Haryana. "Being a vegetarian is the secret to my strength and good health."

Peta claims living a vegetarian life makes perfect sense and that India is increasingly seeing problems associated with heart disease, cancer and diabetes, which it says are associated with a meat-eating diet.

"And since each vegetarian saves the lives of more than 100 animals a year, their consciences are lighter, too," it said. "Viagra and other anti-impotence drugs may get you through the night, but a vegetarian diet can get you through your life. Numerous physicians agree that the best way to prevent artery blockage and other conditions that cause impotence is to eat a diet high in fibre, including plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains."

When he was interviewed last month by The Times of India, Mr Raghav revealed he had been a bachelor until meeting his wife, Shakuntala Devi, ten years ago.

He has been a strict vegetarian and has never drank alcohol. Instead, his diet is made up of fresh milk, clarified butter, vegetables and chapattis.

"I wake up at five in the morning and go to bed before 8pm. During the day, I work in the fields and also take an afternoon nap," he said

The pragmatic art of Virender Sehwag

He has reached an understanding with his own flaws, refused to compromise his strengths, and stayed true to himself

Ed Smith

November 21, 2012

The conventional definition of mental strength is much too narrow. Mental strength is not only about guts and determination, sacrifice and suffering. It is also about holding your nerve, about protecting your self-belief under criticism. It is about saying: "I know what works for me. Sometimes my style of play will look terrible. But over time, I will deliver. And I won't become like everyone else just to avoid criticism." That takes real guts, too. In fact, the justified refusal to compromise your strengths is the ultimate form of mental strength.

By that measure, Virender Sehwag has exceptional mental strength. As he approaches his 100th Test match, we will hear a lot about Sehwag's remarkable hand-eye coordination, his natural ball-striking, his gift of timing and power. But those strengths needed to be nurtured, to be protected from the many voices that demanded that Sehwag curb his natural instincts and play a different way. Sehwag mastered one of the hardest tricks in sport: he reached an accommodation with his own flaws. He recognised that he could not iron out his weaknesses without losing his voice. In simple terms, he stayed true to himself. The whole game is much richer because he did just that.

I first watched Sehwag when Kent played India in 2002. Even then, there was a lot of talk about what he couldn't do - that he couldn't resist going for his shots, that he got out too easily, that he didn't adapt. I noticed something different. It wasn't the way he hit the bad balls for four. It was the way he dispatched the good ones. The bowlers ran up and bowled on a length; Sehwag then drove those length balls for four, all along the ground, with very little apparent risk. Not many players can do that. It was a pattern that would be repeated for 100 Tests.

If Sehwag's mental resilience is underestimated, so is his technique - at least certain strands of his technique. What struck me that day in 2002 was the purity of his bat swing, how squarely the bat face met the ball on impact. And how often he middled the ball.

Isn't that, surely, a central component of a "good technique"? Yes, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar developed more sophisticated techniques that could adapt to difficult pitches. And adaptability, of course, is the ultimate gauge of the ideal all-round technique. But in terms of a technique that makes the best possible contact with a ball flying in a straight line at 85mph, I do not think I've seen a better one than Sehwag's. God-given talent alone - a good eye and fast hands - will not allow you to hit that many balls for four.

Cricket has long misunderstood technique. For too long, the word has been wrongly linked to obduracy and self-denial. Technique is simply a set of skills that allows you to respond to the challenges of your sport. It is as much about attacking options as watertight defence. It is Lionel Messi's exceptional technique, his control of the ball, that allows him to play with such flair for Barcelona. It is Roger Federer's basic technique that allows him to play such a dazzling array of shots from any part of the tennis court.

So it is with Sehwag. It is his technical mastery of attacking shots that puts extraordinary pressure on the bowler. I remember hearing from Stuart Clark when Australia were about to play the Rest of the World XI in 2005. "Just had a bowlers' meeting," Clark explained, "the area of the pitch we're supposed to land it on against Sehwag is about two millimetres by two millimetres!" A fraction full: expect to be driven for four. A fraction short: expect to be punched off the back foot for four.

Sehwag takes boundary hitting very seriously. It is a skill borne of deep attention to detail: you don't become so good at something without loving it. Many great batsmen sit in the dressing room talking about how the players in the middle are missing out on singles. Sehwag, apparently, pipes up when someone misses an attacking opportunity. "He missed a four!" he will say regretfully.

	In terms of a technique that makes the best possible contact with a ball flying in a straight line at 85mph, I do not think I've seen a better one than Sehwag's. God-given talent alone will not allow you to hit that many balls for four

He also knows which bowlers to target. Aakash Chopra recalls how ruthlessly Sehwag seized on the most vulnerable bowler. He knew exactly which bowlers he could destroy. That takes intelligence as well as self-awareness. And it is a huge benefit to the team. A batsman who can "knock out" one of the opposition's bowlers changes the whole balance of the match. If one bowler effectively cannot bowl when Sehwag is at the wicket, then the others tire much more quickly.

Like all great players, Sehwag developed a game that suited him. Dravid once told me that Brian Lara and Tendulkar were so talented that they could regularly score Test hundreds in three or four hours. But Dravid felt he had to be prepared to bat for more like five or six hours for his hundreds. Quite simply, in order to score as heavily as Lara and Tendulkar, Dravid thought he had to bat for more balls. Every batsman has to face up to a version of that calculation: what is my natural tempo, what is the appropriate amount of risk for my game?

But there are two sides to that equation. First, there is time. Secondly, there is run rate. Dravid calculated that he possessed the defensive technique and psychological skills to spend more time in the middle than most great players. So he would compromise on run rate and extend his occupation of the crease.

Sehwag asked the same question but reached the opposite conclusion. Instead of facing more balls, how about scoring more runs off the balls that he did face? Sehwag's judgement of his own game, just like Dravid's, has been fully vindicated by his record. Here is the crucial point. Sehwag's approach is not "reckless" or "naïve". It is deeply pragmatic.

Steve Waugh said that Sehwag is the ultimate "KISS" player: Keep It Simple, Stupid. But that is easier said than done. After a series of nicks to the slips, it would have been tempting for Sehwag completely to remodel his technique. But he had the courage to stick to his method and the conviction that when he got back on a pitch that suited him, he would make it pay. After a sparkling hundred in his 99th Test, Sehwag now reaches another century. He is looking to be proved right yet again.

----

The limited-overs batsman 

who revolutionised Test 

cricket

Sehwag's ability to use skills seemingly made for ODIs in the long game, and his instinct and fearlessness make him one of cricket's most compelling sights

John Wright

November 22, 2012

 

	The great gamble of 2002: Sehwag gets off to a flier in his first innings as a Test opener, at Lord's © Getty Images Enlarge
Related Links Ed Smith : The pragmatic art of Virender Sehwag Players/Officials: Virender Sehwag Teams: India

Less than a year ago, I woke up on the morning of the second Test between Australia and New Zealand in Hobart with the news that Viru had become only the second man to a double-hundred in ODIs.

My first thought was, "About time."

To me, Virender Sehwag has been the most exciting player I've watched, bar none. Yes, I know I belong to the generation that played against Viv, but having seen more of Viru than Viv, that's where I come from.

With Viru, you never know what's going to happen. Sometimes his batting doesn't work, sometimes it can be frustrating. When it works, though, he shakes up a game and turns it on its head. In Hobart that day, I thought that had Viru batted in ODI cricket the way he did in Tests, he could have got five double-hundreds. Or more.

But it is in Test cricket that Viru has shown us his genius. He has revolutionised Test batting, changed the way people look at openers, and made such an impact on the game that the rafters shake when he gets going.

Viru's 99 Tests, like his batting, seem to have gone by at top speed. A hundred Tests is a telling number, but then so are two triple-centuries, a strike rate of above 80 in Tests, 8400 Test runs, and the aforementioned double-hundred (off 149 balls).

It is always hard to judge a player in his first Test, but by the time Viru had played about a dozen, I did think that he had it in him to become something. For his first 30-odd Tests, I worked with Viru as his coach and it was a sheer delight to see him grow.

He came into the team in the guise of this middle-order batsman who had grown up on Indian wickets who could smash it everywhere. In about two years and a bit, he became a world-class Test opener with powers feared by all opposition. Over the rest of his career, he has become one of the greatest openers in the history of the game. People don't normally ever do that - go from being a middle-order batsman in India to opening in Test match cricket and producing outstanding performances all over the world.

What Viru was able to do was play tricks on cricket's very framework. If middle-order batsmen are asked to open the innings, they go into existential dilemmas, modify their game, work on technique. Many fail, a few cope. You will have heard all those stories.

Viru was different; he had no such crisis. He opened in Tests the way he had batted in the middle order - still smashing it. He didn't redefine his game because of his batting position. He redefined the position with his batting. I do not use the word genius casually.

I first met Viru in 2000, when he joined the squad to play the one-dayers against Zimbabwe, my first full series as coach of India. He looked a lovely kid - shy, with a mischievous smile, still innocent and wide-eyed, like many of the young Indians coming into the side.

Three months later, he made me sit up when he scored 58 against Australia in the Bangalore ODI. It was an innings of timing and confidence against bowlers like McGrath and Warne. We moved him into the opening slot in ODIs in a tri-series in Sri Lanka for two reasons: we had opening problems, and Viru kept getting out trying to slog the spinners in the middle overs. He nailed opening the batting beautifully - with it, he solved our problems and found he could play his game at its fullest. It should have been a different matter in Tests.

In Test matches he had a reasonable start as a No. 6, with a century on debut in South Africa and two fifties. We were struggling with Test openers and Sourav and I decided to gamble by sticking him in at the top of the order at Lord's, in only his sixth Test.

When we talked to him about the job, he didn't look like he was too worried about opening. He certainly didn't express it to me (and we had begun to speak very freely to each other by then). In his first innings as a Test opener, Viru was the team's top scorer, with 84. Then, when I saw him on a green wicket in Trent Bridge, in the second Test, I thought, "This guy is serious." He got a century and didn't look back.

Viru's coach in Delhi taught him to have a beautiful, straight backlift, so when he defends he is nicely straight and late. His attacking game wasn't too bad either. He could play so late and generate such bat speed that if you were a few inches off target on the off side, the ball was gone. Anything a bit straight was whipped through midwicket. He could also use the pace of the ball to score more effectively than most in the area between point and third man.

Early on, we widened his stance a little, and I used to encourage him to keep his head very still and not let it move sideways. When his head is perfectly still, like with any batsman, it allows him to play his late options and makes the most of his sublime balance. He is a great opener, though, because, along with everything else, he is fearless.

	One of the things that I think helped him find his feet in cricket and stay grounded was that he accepted his fate. If he nicked something, he accepted it and wouldn't worry about it

Maybe he enjoys opening because he goes out to a clean slate. There are no wickets down, there's no responsibility like there would be coming in at six with four down. He goes in without any numbers and can do what he has said he does: see the ball, hit the ball. In a game filled with jargon and technique and dissection, it is like Viru knows why the great baseball catcher and manager Yogi Berra made total sense when he said: "How can you think and hit at the same time?"

Viru's instinct sweeps him away, and it is what makes him an attacking batsman. At a basic level, he must sense that instinct is swifter and more accurate than thought. Thought gets in the way. When batsmen are playing well, everyone goes by instinct, but Viru had that coupled with intrinsic fearlessness. It doesn't matter what the game situation is, who is bowling, what the wicket is doing. He sees the ball and he hits it - for four if he can.

As captain, batting partner or coach, it is best not to get in his way or try to complicate him. It would ruin Virender Sehwag. He is a natural in more ways than one.

He is one of the best balanced players I've seen. Plus, he catches like he is picking apples, and in those endless beep (fitness) tests we put the team through, he would turn on a dime. He was effortless at changing direction and caught everyone on the turn.

One of the other things that I think helped him find his feet in cricket and stay grounded was that he accepted his fate. If he nicked something, he accepted it and wouldn't worry about it. It was not that he didn't experience disappointment or didn't care, but he wasn't someone who beat himself up too much. What was over was over and he would start his next innings.

I don't know if that is what you call fatalism. Once, we flew into Melbourne in a storm and the plane was getting tossed around a little. He took one look at my face - I'm not the best of fliers - and started laughing. "What're you laughing at?" I asked him, and he said, "Relax, John, if the plane goes down, it goes down. There's nothing we can do about it." It didn't make me a better flier but it told me a little more about Viru.

The only thing that frustrated me, and that had me get stuck into him, was that for the team's sake, there were times when he needed to rein it in a little. But I knew that too much of that could ruin him. People talk about our little incident at The Oval, when I upbraided him. I made an example of Viru because I wanted the rest of the boys to understand that you have to adapt your play to the team's need to win the match.

We sorted that out later, and to his credit, he got over it and we remained mates. After we won the series in Pakistan in 2004, he insisted that I be part of the awards ceremony. I tended to avoid them because the limelight and celebration, I thought, belonged to the players. Viru had noticed this. After the victory he put his arm around my shoulder. "This time, John," he said, "you're coming with me", and dragged me down the stairs of the Rawalpindi dressing room to be with the team.

Viru is the only player I've watched who has pulled off a game suited for ODIs in Test cricket. If he had played ODIs like he played Test matches, he would have had much more success. In ODI cricket, I think he tries to up the tempo when he doesn't need to; he has already pushed the envelope as far as it can go.

Today he is 34, a senior player, a father, and not the cheeky kid I first met, though his smile still seems to contains its old mischief. I would love to believe that he has a lot of good cricket left in him, but all batsmen know that when they get to around 35, they have to work doubly hard on their fitness. It's not going to get easier but he can keep going for as long as he loves the game and trusts his instincts.

On his 100th Test, I would like to say to him: very well played Viru and thanks for the entertainment. Remember, though, that what we talked about still stands - that it's not enough to have big scores; the great ones are those who get the big scores consistently.

John Wright coached India and New Zealand and played 82 Tests for the latter

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

 

What to do when you've done your hamstring

by Andrew Leipus in Cricinfo

 

Overwhelming feedback so far shows there are a lot of ESPNcricinfo readers out there currently suffering cricket injuries and they want some help. There are volumes of research out there but over the next few articles I will broadly discuss some guidelines on what I commonly see in practice, and provide some information that might be useful. Of course, it goes without saying that all injuries are unique and wherever possible you need to seek professional advice.

I have just read that my old captain of many years, Sourav Ganguly, has pulled a hamstring which kept him out of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy quarter-final recently. Whilst this was unfortunate for Bengal, what was of interest was his comment that he will be fine by the time the IPL starts. This leaves him around two weeks in which to recover and complete his rehab. But the IPL also presents an interesting challenge to players, in that often they are coming off long seasons or a Test series. The increased intensity and speed of play during a Twenty20 is potentially a risk for the players, and where time allows, they should be gradually increasing their training intensity during the pre-camp. 

Sudden transition from standing around during Test cricket to explosive T20 is an injury waiting to happen and players need time to prepare adequately. I hope Sourav can recover in time. Unfortunately, hamstring strain injuries are a challenge for both the players and support staff, given their high incidence rate, slow healing, and a tendency to recur.

There is a continuum of muscle impairment that can occur in sport, ranging from simple muscle cramping or soreness to the worst-case scenario, of a complete rupture. We like to classify the degree of injury as a grade 1, 2, or 3, as it gives us an idea of how quickly we can get the player back to sport again. The greater the damage, the longer the rehabilitation period for restoration of full function.

Hamstring strains are quite common in cricket and can occur when overloaded eccentrically, like if the hamstring attempts to control a rapidly flexing hip/trunk or an extending leg, or both. This can happen during bowling, running between wickets or sprinting in the outfield, so every player is a potential victim. When the load applied or expected to be controlled by the muscle exceeds its capabilities, especially when on stretch, the muscle fibres tear or get damaged.

In terms of self-diagnosis, if you experience hamstring muscle soreness after a long day in the field or following training in the gym, the problem is unlikely to involve disruption of muscle fibres and will probably heal in a day or two. Many players experience this feeling after long days in the slips during a Test match. But a massage or ice bath in the evening will always help them recover by morning.

Actual muscle strains, however, always are accompanied by an acute onset of pain. A sudden, sharp "grabbing" behind the thigh is generally an indicator of a strain. Feeling pain or a swelling under your thigh when sitting is also quite indicative. The more intense the pain, generally, the higher the grade of injury.

The delineation between strong cramping and a mild strain is often difficult to diagnose, especially when the player is fatigued and dehydrated. This poses problems now that substitute runners are not allowed. Regardless, a grade 1 will probably let you continue playing, albeit with some discomfort, a grade 2 or 3 will bring you off the ground, limping. If this acute "grabbing" or "tearing" sensation isn't experienced and the hamstring pain arrives insidiously, there is a good chance the pain is being referred from surrounding areas like the lower back or pelvis. The management for this sort of injury is very different. There are many other possible sources of hamstring pain, often co-existing. This often results in a player return to sport remarkably quickly, since no muscle is actually injured at the time.

The initial management of all strains begins with protecting or offloading the muscle - applying an ice compression for 15-20 minutes every hour or two for a couple of days (commonly longer). A lot of people start to exercise too early post-injury, and in my experience sometimes it's better left alone, to allow for the natural healing processes to begin. A good rule of thumb to follow is not to do anything that hurts - it is common sense but not always followed, and leads to a premature return to sport, getting injured again, and even more time out of the game.

After a few days, when walking is easier, aim to gradually restore full range of movement, develop good alignment of scar tissue and regain optimal strength, since injured muscle becomes inhibited or weak almost immediately. Active stretching is useful in regaining movement - when sitting, use the quads to straighten the knee and provide a gentle hamstring stretch. It's much more preferable to static stretching at this stage. Soft-tissue massage is also beneficial to normalise muscle tone and soften the healing scar tissue.

	A lot of people start to exercise too early post-injury, and in my experience sometimes it's better left alone, to allow for the natural healing processes to begin. A good rule of thumb to follow is not to do anything that hurts

A good sports physio will address these issues and examine for any other contributing or driving factors that may be modifiable, such as muscle imbalances, weakness, poor flexibility or dysfunctional movement patterns. In other words, they will look for reasons, biomechanical or otherwise, why the injury possibly occurred and try to correct or improve them.

After this, a progressive amount of training load is needed to strengthen the injured and weakened muscle without injuring it again. Some of the better traditional exercises prescribed early in rehabilitation don't require any equipment and include hip bridging off of a bench, squats, lunges, deadlifts and single-leg standing windmills.

Hamstring curl machines found in gyms certainly have their place in rehab but are a luxury not a necessity. Stationary cycling is also beneficial for maintaining cardio fitness and initially provides a low load to the hamstring. Access to a spin bike is useful if it has a weighted fly-wheel, since this will introduce an eccentric load to the hamstring. Eccentric loading has been shown to be a critical component to full hamstring rehabilitation.

Jogging can be reintroduced gradually, initially as sideways movements, which places less stress on the hamstrings. As pain-free contraction and full range of motion are regained, drills such as 80-metre run-throughs are common, like 20m of gradual acceleration leading into 40m of steady pace, followed by a deceleration over the next 20m. The distances and intensities of the acceleration and steady pace are gradually increased from session to session as the injured muscle adapts to increasing loads. Progression is based on the ability to complete each session successfully and wake up the next day without pain or stiffness. The ultimate goal is rapid acceleration into a full sprint, and for cricket, rapid changes of direction.

At some stage during this programme, cricketing skills will be reintroduced. For example, once lunging is comfortable it is quite reasonable to begin easy net sessions. Similarly, bowlers coming off hamstring strains need to begin "walking through" their actions, progressing to controlled medicine-ball throws and gradually bowling off a short run.

As mentioned at the start, there is no recipe. What you need instead is a structured and flexible progression of loading the injured muscle and the reintroduction of the necessary skills to avoid the development of altered movement patterns associated with the injury. The loads can be increased as the muscle becomes stronger, as can the progression of the gym programme to include more dynamic functional training and plyometrics/power training.

In terms of returning to play, don't be one of the many people who equate a lack of pain or stiffness with being fit. Prevention of re-injury starts with thorough rehabilitation of the current injury. Incorporating a dynamic warm-up before playing is the norm nowadays and static stretching is uncommon (although there still is a place for it). Bowling actions need to be reviewed carefully by the coach to ensure there is no altered movement - bowlers often don't finish their actions completely when recovering from a hamstring strain, and avoid short or full deliveries as they require a slightly longer delivery stride.

Ultimately, the best functional testing is seen under match conditions. Muscles tend to tighten when weak or fatigued and the best practice for this is to play a match, often at a lower grade than usual, in order to better control the efforts.

As you can see, there is a lot to cover in management of the "simple" hamstring strain and this has just been an introduction. But the best piece of advice I can give for prevention of hamstring strains is to be physically well conditioned. The more functionally strong the muscle, the less likely it is to fail.