After my last blog at the beginning of the Friends Provident T20 Cup we are now at the pointy end of the tournament. After a lot of miles up and down the M6 competing in the North Group and plenty of crash, bang, wallop over 16 group games, we have booked our place in tonight’s quarter final vs Essex at Chelmsford under lights.

The winners will progress to T20 Finals day in a fortnight at the Rose Bowl, consisting of two semi finals and a final where anything can happen. After the disappointment of topping our group last year, getting a home quarter final and then losing to Somerset in a bowl out after three days solid Manchester rain I know the whole squad are keen to put that firmly in the past. Our opponents Essex are a very good one day side and we have become something of sworn rivals after some fierce contests over the past few seasons.

On the injury front Gary Keedy has made a excellent return from a fractured collarbone sustained in a preseason friendly and put in some fine performances for the 2nd XI and now Ist Team. Oliver Newby is also progressing well 7 weeks post ACL repair and after a check up with the specialist last week has been given the all clear to step up his rehab. With Old Trafford out of action at times over the last few months due to the Test match and concerts its been good for the players to mix up their rehab at the Middleton Physio Gym.

From here we travel to Hampshire to get back into Championship cricket with fixtures coming thick and fast over the remaining two months of the season. We could do with some games uninterrupted by weather but first let’s hope we can do the job tonight and silence the vocal Chelmsford crowd.

Cheers

Sam

Well, here we are two months into the season………. and the month long crash bang wallop of the Friends Provident t20 is upon us. We start our campaign tonight at The Riverside vs The Durham Dynamos who boast the international experience and big hitting of Albie Morkel and Ross Taylor. If there’s one thing for sure you won’t miss us in our new t20 fluorescent yellow warm up gear! We have now farewelled Ashwell Prince as our overseas player and added the prolific Simon Katich whose record for Cricket Australia speaks for itself. He also captained NSW to Champions League success last year and will be a great addition to our squad. Our analyst and fellow NSW ‘bluebagger’ Jason Swift is a little excited to have him on board to say the least!

 The first phase of the season since our tour to Barbados has been hectic and not without its ups and downs. We squeezed in 7 LV County Championship matches, winning 3 and being denied by rain at crucial times in 2 others but are the only team to remain undefeated, sitting in 3rd overall. Unfortunately we have had a couple of serious injuries in the early part of the season, first of which was Gary Keedy who dived awkwardly on the boundary at Old Trafford and fractured his right collarbone. Thankfully it wasn’t his much heralded left arm, but the surgery that followed meant the best part of 3 months rehab. He has worked hard with Dave Roberts, Alex and myself, and pleasingly today has started some bowling and throwing drills. Over the next month he will continue to build his range of movement and strength and increase the amount of cricket specific work he does, and is aiming to be back playing around the beginning of July. His time out injured hasn’t been a complete waste, as he has passed another exam on the way to becoming a qualified Physiotherapist and spent some time honing his massage skills with our resident massage experts Joanne and Angela at the Broadway Clinic.

 One of our key seamers Oliver Newby also sustained a serious knee injury in training, rupturing his Anterior Cruciate Ligament which will require surgery this week and rule him out for the remainder of the season. This also meant he couldnt defend his title of ‘Ultimate Sportsman’ on Cricket AM recently, that honour being passed to Paul ‘The Doctor’ Horton who outshone the other members of the squad in a penalty shootout, golf chip challenge and Darts.  

 Our 2nd XI and Academy players have also had a busy fixture list, playing 4 days of cricket most weeks and trying to fit in club committments as well. The Lancashire Academy draws players from right across Lancashire and up into Cumbria and a number of the Academy lads have benefitted from the close proximity of the David Roberts Physiotherapy Clinics dotted around the M60 network as they sought treatment on their backs, elbows, shoulders, knees and toes!

 Jimmy Anderson is now fighting fit again after a programme of rehab and strengthing with the Lancashire squad after missing the tour of Bangladesh with a knee injury. He returned in great form for Lancashire helping us win our first 2 County Championship matches, and should be raring to go against my old team the Bangladesh Tigers in the 2nd npower Test Match starting today at Old Trafford. It was good to catch up with some of the young players who were coming through when I worked in Dhaka and great to see players like Tamin Iqbal and Shahadat Hossain get their names on the honour boards at Lords for a century and 5 wickets respectively.

 Will keep you posted and here’s hoping we have a successful t20 campaign!

 Cheers

Sam