News

David's "Make Or Break Season" Lies Ahead

20 January 2012

David Wade admits that he is facing a make-or-break summer with Gloucestershire after seeing his first season with the club wrecked by injury.

The 28-year-old soldier, who interrupted his Army career to become a professional cricketer last winter, is looking for a fresh start at the club, having spent most of the 2011 season on the sidelines.

David’s hopes of playing first team cricket at Bristol were soon dashed by a shoulder problem which took a long time to heal, Now the tall pace bowler is working hard to ensure is challenging hard for a place in Gloucestershire’s team for the 2012 campaign.

He told this website: “I was at the club from January onwards last year, which was relatively late in terms of taking part in winter training and when the season started it was almost like a shock to my body, which it couldn’t cope with.

“Cardiovascular fitness is something I have no problem with because of my Army training. But I struggled with the rigours of day-to-day cricket because it affects muscles you don’t employ for other activities.

“Straight away I developed a shoulder injury in the first warm-up game and because I was so desperate to play I tried to come back sooner than I should have.

“That had a detrimental effect on the healing process and I ended up peaking in terms of fitness in late August and September, which was too late and hugely frustrating.

“At the start I simply didn’t have the core strength that guys who bowl regularly for years develop. My body was fit, but not conditioned for this environment.

“This winter I have been following a set programme to suit my requirements and since the end of last season I have not had any problems at all.

“Of course the big test will come in March with our pre-season games and no one at Gloucestershire is looking forward to them more.

“At the end of last summer I was so desperate to play, having got myself fit. I was actually in contention for the last couple of games, but it was felt there was no point by then in taking any risks.

“I did play a series of second XI matches without any ill-effects so I am very hopeful that, with the hard work I am putting in during the winter, I will hit the ground running when the new season begins.

“The warm-up fixtures will tell me where I am in terms of being cricket fit and I hope to prove to myself that there will be no problems this time around.”

As well as working on his fitness in recent months, David took part in what turned out to be a cricket tour with a difference.

“The trip was to Pakistan and Dubai for two weeks in November and was organised by the Army,” he said. “It was the first tour to Pakistan by any cricket squad since the attack on the Sri Lankan team by gunmen in 2009 and therefore important in promoting the game over there.

“Unfortunately, the night we flew out there was an incident on the Afghanistan border where Pakistani soldiers were accidentally shot by American NATO forces and that threw our plans into limbo.

“We ended up spending a week and a half in Pakistan, during which we were scheduled to play four games against their military and other sides. All the games were cancelled, but we were able to get out and about and see the country and its culture.

“We finished with three days in Dubai, training at the same facilities and ground as the England team have just visited, which was great, but playing no serious cricket at all.

“That was a shame. Pakistan was in a state of mourning after 26 of their soldiers had been killed, but we were made to feel very welcome and it was a really interesting trip.”

David remains in the Army and his contract with Gloucestershire allows for spending part of the winter soldiering.

“I have been back to Salisbury on and off and part of the agreement was that I could go with the Army side to Pakistan,” he said.

“But the Army are aware that I need to be devoting most of my time to Gloucestershire at the moment if I am to make a success of playing cricket and they have been very helpful.

“It’s a make-or-break season ahead for me. At the end of it I will either go back to the Army, having failed to make it as a cricketer, or push on and hopefully play for another five or six years.”

• Previous
• Next