Chris Tremlett dreaming of England return after injury nightmare

 
Tom Collomosse6 July 2012

Chris Tremlett could barely walk or get out of bed during his last Test for England but the Surrey paceman has his eye on an international recall after working his way back to full fitness.

Tremlett had been outstanding for his country since he was chosen for the Third Ashes Test in Perth in December 2010, yet when he learned he would need a back operation after a recurrence of an injury in Dubai earlier this year, the 30-year-old was worried about his future in the game.

Although there are obstacles on the road ahead, Tremlett is quietly confident he will wear an England shirt again. He has played three Twenty20 matches for Surrey and will use the second half of the summer to push for a place on the tours of India and New Zealand this winter.

“When you have a back operation, there is the off-chance it could go wrong,” Tremlett told Standard Sport. “The surgeon is realistic. One in thousands of operations sometimes goes wrong.

“It’s very rare but these thoughts can cross your mind and you do think: ‘Am I going to come back and be able to bowl at the same pace, or bowl 40 overs in a game?’ From what I’ve done so far, I can still bowl at the same speed and I feel the same as I did before when I run in.

“[England coach] Andy Flower has called me to ask me how I’m doing and I’ve seen him two or three times, so they know my progress and I’m sure they’re keeping an eye on me. When I’m bowling well, I feel I’m as good as anyone.

“When we played Pakistan in the First Test in Dubai in January, I thought I’d be okay but on the third day I really struggled to walk or get out of bed; the pain was shooting down my leg.

“By the time we got to Abu Dhabi for the Second Test, I tried to bowl in the nets and it was nearly impossible. I knew then that I’d need an operation. I had been trying to get better without one.”

It was rotten luck for Tremlett, who has had injury problems throughout his career and he now has to fight his way back into the thoughts of the selectors.

When Tremlett first suffered the damage, before the Second Test against India last summer, he was Jimmy Anderson’s new-ball partner but the injury has kept him out of 10 of the team’s last 11 Tests.

His task is made more difficult by the quality of fast bowlers available to England. Anderson, Stuart Broad and Tim Bresnan are first choices in the Test team but Steve Finn and Graham Onions are pushing hard and then there are Chris Woakes, Jade Dernbach and Stuart Meaker.

Tremlett admits he struggled to watch England during their tour of Sri Lanka but his mood has been lifted by his recent progress. “I was down in the dumps when the boys were in Sri Lanka and watching it was the last thing I wanted to do,” he said.

“It’s great to be involved with Surrey again and doing the warm-ups because being in the gym can get lonely and boring.

“The mental side is the hardest thing I’ve found in my career, when you’re dealing with injuries and the time you’re out of the game. When you’re out for as long as I have been, it’s very frustrating.

“Going from being one of the top 10 bowlers in the world to not playing at all is mentally tough.

“You just have to stay strong and think of the good times you’ve had. Hopefully, I’m at the end of the road now.”

Chance to Shine ambassador Chris Tremlett was helping to promote the ‘play hard, play fair’ message of MCC Spirit of Cricket. £15 will pay for a year of Chance to Shine coaching for one child. Donate at chancetoshine.org

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in