Aussie Summer of Cricket!

And it did! Being the physio and cricket nerd I am, my university dissertation was on bowling workloads and the risk of injury. So I decided to put into practice all I’d learnt 5 years ago. I started off sensibly with my bowling and used lockdown to build up my bowling workloads slowly – only increasing very gradually week by week. Recording my loads meticulously.  Monitoring how much I was bowling and building up ready for game one – knowing that it would reduce my risk of injury and hoping I would be able to jump out of bed the day after the game and feel ready to go again. 

How wrong was I?!  I love cricket and have really missed it but I’ve really not missed waking up with muscles I never even knew I had screaming at me. My injury risk may have reduced with my workload planning but my muscle soreness the day after definitely didn’t get the memo and my body was not happy.  

My body the day after our first game did not want to get out of bed – every muscle hurt from my feet to my fingers! I spent the next few days recovering doing my mobility, swimming and cycling to try and get some relief. 

Day 3 post game I  was finally able to put my socks on without having to stretch first. Then this week restrictions were lifted and we could train in groups of 50. The batter in me was so excited! Yes more time in the nets! But the bowler inside me was slightly dreading it and with restrictions lifted my beautifully crafted workload plan went out the window. 9 back to back overs later and 30 min of fielding and I finished the session lay on my back on The Alberts outfield staring up at the sky already dreading waking up the next day and already planning my recovery so I’m ready to go on Sunday for round 2!

It will all be worth it in the end when Melbourne CC are Women’s Premier Cricket Champions 2020!