By Matthew Fisher
I am hoping that with the performances I have put in during the three games I played in the Championship this season, I have put myself in a good position to push for a starting place at the beginning of next year.
Of course I would have liked more games in the first team, but I can still look back positively at this season.
One big positive I take out of it is that I’ve got through a season without any bowling injuries. My two thumbs and my shoulder were done batting or fielding.
I feel like I’ve bowled quite a lot of overs, and my body has stood up.
You can see people struggle with back stress fractures for two or three years, or they can even end careers. Touch wood, that won’t happen again.
That settles me down a bit.
The Championship is the format I really love playing and want to progress in, and I feel like four games would have been a decent block of games. But it’s now three because of the rain last week against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
I have to be patient. If I get a run of games and perform like I know I can, hopefully there will be other things on the horizon.
There is the possibility of a Lions call to tour Australia, which would be a nice build-up to the summer and you would learn so much being part of that squad.
But I feel as though I would be picked on potential rather than results because I haven’t played enough. We will have to see.
Otherwise, I plan to stay at home until Christmas and train indoors.
I will be discussing it with Andrew Gale and Martyn Moxon this week about maybe going away before the start of the season.
I felt like I kept having niggles at the start of this year in the second team because I was getting used to bowling again.
I didn’t go on pre-season tour to Potchefstroom, so I was trying to build my overs up in games, which is different to be doing it in practice.
Mentally, I was feeling aches and pains, which is natural, but it wasn’t allowing me to concentrate purely on batting and bowling, which you need to do in games to perform at your best.
It was nice to hear the comments from Galey after the Kent game about my attitude, which is something I have prided myself on ever since starting out at Sheriff Hutton Bridge.
It’s been trained into me that there’s a non negotiable every day you turn up to train or play.
It means so much to me playing given my injury history, and I really want to stay in the team. That’s why I show that fight and heart in games because you don’t want someone to pinch your spot.
