By Mickey Edwards.
Santa delivered me an early Christmas present this week – my first run since getting back on my feet following injury. Not the most glamorous gift, I grant you, but it was a significant moment in preparing for next season.
The rehab has been quite slow following ankle surgery and a lot of bone oedema (fluid inside bone marrow) on one of my foot bones.
I was in a cast for around two weeks and have been out of that for six or eight weeks now. I couldn’t really move the foot at all, which was quite interesting, and the amount of muscle loss I had from it was pretty amazing.
I have also been able to turn my arm over in the nets, getting the shoulder and back used to bowling again at a very low intensity. That’s literally two steps, no jump and turn the arm over. It’s boring stuff, but it’s better than nothing.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Mickey Edwards celebrates dismissing Glamorgan’s David Lloyd in May.
I’m very confident that I’ll be ready for the start of the season. I should be off my full run-up by February-March time ready for the pre-season tour to Abu Dhabi, which will be nice.
We finished training as a squad last week ahead of Christmas, just doing some individual stuff in the gym.
I have actually spent a Christmas in the UK before. I think it was 2009 that we came over as a family. I remember it snowed then, which was very cool.
But I’m really looking forward to this one. My partner Katey’s brother and his best mate are over at the moment, so we have them with us for the next week or so. We’ll have some good food and no doubt a few beers on Christmas Day.
In Australia, Christmas rolls around and you kind of don’t really realise it because it’s a nice time of year anyway with it being summer time and very hot.
Over here, it very much feels like it’s what everyone is ramping up to. It’s like a little oasis of joy in the midst of some really bad weather.
And we’ve really got into it. We’ve got the lights up, a Christmas tree, we’ll get the Christmas jumpers out as well. It’s been a change, but a really nice one.
There will also be a lot of Big Bash cricket on the TV.
When I came out of the Sydney Sixers set-up, I was like, ‘I don’t know whether I will support them or watch that much of it’. But now it’s come about, I’m really into it.
I’ve been watching every ball, and watching my brother Jack play has been especially nice.
I think the Sixers play on Boxing Day, so I’ll be up for that one.
There was a time when they were trying to get us to play on Christmas Day, which I reckon was a step too far!
It’s been really good to watch it just as a fan, rather than as a player having to watch intensely in preparation for the off chance that I might get a game.
I thought Jack bowled really nice the other day, taking a couple of wickets in a win over the Hurricanes.
Picture by Simon Sturzaker/Getty Images. Jack Edwards, Mickey’s younger brother, playing for the Sydney Sixers in the ongoing Big Bash.
His bowling has been his project over probably the last three years. When he was younger, his action was so badly timed it looked like he bowled off the wrong foot. But he’s been working hard to revamp his action and get some more pace.
He’s probably put on 10km an hour speed wise, which is pretty incredible. He’s really happy with it, and I’m proud of him. Not that I tell him that.
He bowled one at 138 or 139 the other day, and I told him it was a problem with the speedometer.
Sixers are always there and thereabouts. They have a lot of well-rounded T20 players, and I expect them to challenge again even though I don’t think they’ve quite hit top form just yet. They’ve generally started quite slowly in seasons gone by. But once you get to the back end, they’re pretty hard to beat.
Returning to Yorkshire matters, the lads have been training really well this winter. The first half of pre-season can be quite tough because you’re a long way from the season. But with the young group we’ve got, they’ve been pushing everyone along. That’s been fantastic for an old buck like me.
Picture by Ed Sykes/SWpix.com. Mickey Edwards modelling Yorkshire’s 2023 Vitality Blast shirt.
I’d love to be able to contribute to promotion and hopefully a couple of white ball trophies next year.
I definitely have an eye on the Blast. That will be a big competition for me because I feel like my skills are well suited to T20 cricket.
And hopefully my body holds up. I’ve had a taste of the county grind, as they say, and fingers crossed I can attack it nicely next year.
But first of all, I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year. I can’t wait to see you all next summer.
