Writing exclusively for All Out Cricket, James Harris looks back on a disappointing final week in South Africa with the England Performance Programme that saw injury bring a premature end to his winter away.
The last week of our trip to South Africa. Our three weeks in Potchefstroom have come to an end and we’ve all returned home to a not so warm UK. For me, it turned out to be a slightly disappointing end to the trip. My groin injury has yet to fully go away, meaning I will miss the upcoming tour to Bangladesh in the new year with the England Lions and, as a result, I flew home a few days earlier than the other lads in order to get some more medical advice to get me fit and firing again as quick as possible.
Monday December 12
After another relaxing day off chilling in the sun by the pool, it was back to work first thing Monday morning. We were straight into some general movement patterns and plyometric work and had a slightly bigger group this session due to the England senior lads also joining in with us.
With the England guys only coming out for a short period of time, much of their emphasis was on getting their bowling form tip top so both camps split up to do their own thing with our lot heading to the gym. It was time for another installment of our chin-up challenge. The instruction was to do three sets of pull-ups aiming for three sets of ten, with a two-minute gap in between. The rules stipulated that you had to go from fully extended arms to chin above the bar for a rep to count, and it would be strongly policed.
Brooksy [Jack Brooks] (who happens to be the current Northamptonshire chin-up champion) was in the lead securing scores of 10-10-8. I was strong in second with 10-10-7 and Meaks [Stuart Meaker] was placed in third with a 10-10-6. Tense stuff indeed. After a considerable amount of pain and anguish, it turned out to be a complete dead rubber. All three of us weighed in with a chin-up score of 10-10-9. The script couldn’t have been written!
Tuesday December 13
The decision was made that I was to head home early and due to this there was no real point in me continuing to bowl. The boys headed over to the practise ground to get some more overs in the legs and I hit the gym. A bit of a bike/row circuit was in order and although I had to train on my own, which was a bit of a pain, it did give me a chance to try out my flash new gym headphones.
When I decided to go and hit the gym first thing I should’ve really asked what the plan for the afternoon was first because there was some fitness circuits to be done. Perfect. Everything from step-ups with med balls to boxing was part of our afternoon and the six of us were left in a puddle of sweat in the middle of the gym.
That night we all headed out to Potchefstrooms’ favourite eatery, Beef Boys, for one last meal together as I would be catching a plane home the following evening. Thankfully, there are no embarrassing stories for me to tell this time and the waiter kept all of the food on the plate on this occasion, which was nice. All in all it was a nice way to finish up my last evening in SA.
Wednesday December 14
We woke up that morning to torrential rain bouncing off the windows. The weather was awful and that curtailed the morning plans. Most of my morning was spent frantically trying to throw all of my stuff back into bags in preparation to leave. As it was raining we did manage to get into the gym and get my strength tests done before I left. Although I was sad to be cutting the trip a little short I managed to squeeze out five reps on the bench press at 83kgs and, having weighed in that morning at 82.7, it was the first time I’ve been able to rep my bodyweight. That was a good feeling to leave with.
I said my goodbyes to the lads and jumped in a taxi to the airport. After a two-hour cab ride and another four hours spent milling around in the airport looking in the shops it was time to head home. It’s about an 11-hour flight to Heathrow for Johannesburg and it went fairly smoothly.
Thursday December 15
I was met at the airport by my father, which is something of a routine we have now. It would be quite a lot easier to get a taxi back to sunny south Wales but what we tend to do is use those three hours in the car constructively in order to get through all the nitty gritty details so I don’t have to bore my mum when I get in the house.
It’s always nice coming home at the end of some time away but I’m no fan of the cold. As it turns out I’ll be seeing much more of the cold this winter than was originally planned. All that’s left to be said is to wish my boys Nathan Buck, Jack Brooks, Tymal Mills, Boyd Rankin and Stuart Meaker all the best on the Lions tour in Bangladesh in the new year.
It is really disappointing to be unavailable for the tour due to fitness. The plan for the rest of my winter now is to get another scan done, hopefully get over this little niggle as soon as possible, and prepare now for the start of another season.
Click here to read last week’s diary from James.
AOC Exclusive: James Harris’ England Performance Programme Diary
Writing exclusively for All Out Cricket, James Harris looks back on a disappointing final week in South Africa with the England Performance Programme that saw injury bring a premature end to his winter away.
The last week of our trip to South Africa. Our three weeks in Potchefstroom have come to an end and we’ve all returned home to a not so warm UK. For me, it turned out to be a slightly disappointing end to the trip. My groin injury has yet to fully go away, meaning I will miss the upcoming tour to Bangladesh in the new year with the England Lions and, as a result, I flew home a few days earlier than the other lads in order to get some more medical advice to get me fit and firing again as quick as possible.
Monday December 12
After another relaxing day off chilling in the sun by the pool, it was back to work first thing Monday morning. We were straight into some general movement patterns and plyometric work and had a slightly bigger group this session due to the England senior lads also joining in with us.
With the England guys only coming out for a short period of time, much of their emphasis was on getting their bowling form tip top so both camps split up to do their own thing with our lot heading to the gym. It was time for another installment of our chin-up challenge. The instruction was to do three sets of pull-ups aiming for three sets of ten, with a two-minute gap in between. The rules stipulated that you had to go from fully extended arms to chin above the bar for a rep to count, and it would be strongly policed.
Brooksy [Jack Brooks] (who happens to be the current Northamptonshire chin-up champion) was in the lead securing scores of 10-10-8. I was strong in second with 10-10-7 and Meaks [Stuart Meaker] was placed in third with a 10-10-6. Tense stuff indeed. After a considerable amount of pain and anguish, it turned out to be a complete dead rubber. All three of us weighed in with a chin-up score of 10-10-9. The script couldn’t have been written!
Tuesday December 13
The decision was made that I was to head home early and due to this there was no real point in me continuing to bowl. The boys headed over to the practise ground to get some more overs in the legs and I hit the gym. A bit of a bike/row circuit was in order and although I had to train on my own, which was a bit of a pain, it did give me a chance to try out my flash new gym headphones.
When I decided to go and hit the gym first thing I should’ve really asked what the plan for the afternoon was first because there was some fitness circuits to be done. Perfect. Everything from step-ups with med balls to boxing was part of our afternoon and the six of us were left in a puddle of sweat in the middle of the gym.
That night we all headed out to Potchefstrooms’ favourite eatery, Beef Boys, for one last meal together as I would be catching a plane home the following evening. Thankfully, there are no embarrassing stories for me to tell this time and the waiter kept all of the food on the plate on this occasion, which was nice. All in all it was a nice way to finish up my last evening in SA.
Wednesday December 14
We woke up that morning to torrential rain bouncing off the windows. The weather was awful and that curtailed the morning plans. Most of my morning was spent frantically trying to throw all of my stuff back into bags in preparation to leave. As it was raining we did manage to get into the gym and get my strength tests done before I left. Although I was sad to be cutting the trip a little short I managed to squeeze out five reps on the bench press at 83kgs and, having weighed in that morning at 82.7, it was the first time I’ve been able to rep my bodyweight. That was a good feeling to leave with.
I said my goodbyes to the lads and jumped in a taxi to the airport. After a two-hour cab ride and another four hours spent milling around in the airport looking in the shops it was time to head home. It’s about an 11-hour flight to Heathrow for Johannesburg and it went fairly smoothly.
Thursday December 15
I was met at the airport by my father, which is something of a routine we have now. It would be quite a lot easier to get a taxi back to sunny south Wales but what we tend to do is use those three hours in the car constructively in order to get through all the nitty gritty details so I don’t have to bore my mum when I get in the house.
It’s always nice coming home at the end of some time away but I’m no fan of the cold. As it turns out I’ll be seeing much more of the cold this winter than was originally planned. All that’s left to be said is to wish my boys Nathan Buck, Jack Brooks, Tymal Mills, Boyd Rankin and Stuart Meaker all the best on the Lions tour in Bangladesh in the new year.
It is really disappointing to be unavailable for the tour due to fitness. The plan for the rest of my winter now is to get another scan done, hopefully get over this little niggle as soon as possible, and prepare now for the start of another season.
Click here to read last week’s diary from James.