Yorks go to heart of matter

Yorkshire's players will wear heart-rate monitors under their shirts in every one-day and Twenty20 match this season.

Yorkshire, who revealed their decision to wear a revolutionary new kit last month, began trialling the straps – worn around the torso – in the Pro Arabian Cricket Challenge triumph in Abu Dhabi.

The Activio system allows each player's heart rate to be monitored live by Yorkshire's medical team throughout matches, a central computer picking up signals within a range of up to 200 metres.

The club's pioneering research, funded by sponsors Leeds Metropolitan University, will be published at the end of the 2008 season.

Cricket has not examined the impact of the game - and particularly fast bowling - on the body and Yorkshire hope the findings of their experiment will be of use both to themselves and the sport in general.