Fit-again Friend eyes up Test comeback

Travis Friend, Zimbabwe's new pace-bowling all-rounder, is on his way back to big cricket after suffering stress fractures on tour with the national side in India and Australia. He spoke to CricInfo during the match between Zimbabwe A and the Indian tourists at Mutare Sports Club.

"When I was in India I had a problem with my leg. I kept playing on it and suffered quite a lot of pain, only to find out after a while that I had a stress fracture on one of the bones. That recovered quite quickly and I continued with the tour.

"Then, midway through the Australian leg, I felt niggles in my back. It went in the middle of one game, and I found I had a stress fracture and a few other defects in my back. This has kept me out for about 13 weeks.

"I did very little for about eight weeks, resting and doing a bit of rehab, and then slowly I started doing basic training exercises to get the back muscles strong again. During the past few weeks I've been going to the gym and doing a lot of cardio-vascular work, trying to get match-fit and back into the game so this injury won't recur. You have to get the muscles around the torso very strong for the back, to support the impact.

"I played in the Logan Cup games, mainly as a batsman; I didn't bowl again until near the end of the programme. I attended the Academy for a few weeks to help me get fit again and get some bowling practice in. This is my second three-day game; I've played a few odd games here and there. At the Academy I played a two-day game, to get back into it, and it's feeling quite good at the moment. I think with more training and maintaining my fitness it will stay firm.

"Apart from the injury, the tour was a great experience for me. I think I learned a great deal from other countries and watching how people played there. The standard in Australia was exceptional, and I learned how to cope in India with the different conditions.

"To give one example: as you know, I tend to bowl a slightly short of a length ball, but sometimes stray to bowling quite short. I soon picked up in Australia that these guys like to pull, and this was something I had to adjust to very drastically. I worked it out quite quickly, but it was something new to me and I realized that when bowling you have to think about every ball and how to bowl to these guys. Also the margins of error at this level are very slim, so you really have to think about what you're doing, instead of just running up and bowling.

"I got a lot of help from the other players on tour; we helped each other out all the time. I was always asking the experienced players about certain situations and stuff like that. I also spoke to a few of the opposing players. I spoke to Brett Lee for a while, to talk about injuries, and blokes from India. We always help each other out and get each other's points of view.

"The highlight of my Logan Cup season was the century I scored against Mashonaland; it was my first century out of school and I'm really happy that it's come. I've always believed that I could do it, and it just came at the right time. I had a chance when someone dropped me and I just took that opportunity and went on to make a hundred. It's something I need because I still believe I can make the national side as a good all-rounder and be quite a reliable batsman.

"We were trying to save the game when I went in, and overnight we had three wickets in hand with a day to play. Unfortunately on the final day I went out in about the eighth over, and we just fell apart from there. But I hope I can learn from that and hopefully score a lot more in future.

"The Mashonaland attack had Eddo Brandes, Gus Mackay, and Paul and Bryan Strang - there were a few experienced players in that side. Bryan Strang was really moving the ball a lot; at one stage they had us about seven for five wickets. It was a nice pitch to bat on, but there was a lot of swing, especially with the new ball. Eddo Brandes was hitting good areas as well, and they were bowling quite well. I suppose I was quite lucky to get away with a few loose deliveries that I took my chances with.

"I still get a general stiffness from my injury and I still have to get very much fitter. There's nothing better than actually bowling in a game; you can't get better practice than that. So I'm a bit stiff here and there, but I had quite a long spell yesterday. I'm feeling quite good after such a long session and things can only get better.

"The pitch here [at Mutare] is not too bad for my bowling and with the new ball it does a bit. I think it's reasonably good all round and you can get a bit of lift if you put some effort into it. The ball carries through nicely.

"In our first session we started very well to have India 71 for five. But after lunch I think we came out very casually and expected it to carry on. Obviously it didn't, and they scored 105 runs in an hour. We had a big talk at drinks and we slowly pulled it back. Dravid was in very good form and he was hitting the ball quite well. We did well to pull it back and get them 330 for nine in the end.

"It was a good team performance, and I personally was happy with the way I bowled. In my first spell I didn't quite have a rhythm from the top end, but when I moved down to the lower end I had much better rhythm. I was reasonably happy, but obviously there were a few loose balls that were put away, and I've got to work on that.

"My first wicket was that of Ramesh. It was a fairly short ball at his body and he just played it on to his stumps. My next wicket was that of Harbhajan, with the second new ball. I bowled a short ball - an attempted bouncer - at him and he gloved it to the keeper. I was just trying to rattle him up and it actually worked.

"My immediate goal is to play this game and try to get back into the national side, for the Test matches and hopefully the one-day triangular series. That's my goal for now and we'll have to see how it goes from there. I don't intend to look much further than that right now."