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Active recovery the key to keeping players fit

21 August 2020

In a shortened season with limited time during preseason to prepare, there has been an even greater emphasis on player recovery which Head of Medical David Bartlett believes has been essential to keeping a relatively small squad of players fully fit.

“We’re in a period right now where the medical team are just managing niggles and being clever with how we utilize our days off. At the moment, we are playing four days a week and on the three off days the players are doing active recovery.  

“We train on Fridays before the game but we’ve made a deliberate point to not let any of the bowlers bowl on those three days. Generally, bowlers have extra workloads so we try to give them more relaxed days to make sure they are ready to bowl in a match.”

Three weeks into the season, resting George Scott for the first Bob Willis Trophy match as a precaution has been the biggest injury concern. Making him unavailable for squad selection was an easy choice for Bartlett who has, what he describes as, a ‘long term greedy approach’.

“Shutting down George for the first match and giving him the extra rest he needed has meant he has been fully fit to play in the games that followed. If we keep pushing players, a minor strain could become four to six weeks on the sidelines which this year would be the season done.

“With Scott, everyone else was fit so it made sense to take the opportunity to rest him. He could have played in that match but we are looking at the two month season as a whole.”

Having the chance to rest players at will is a luxury for Gloucestershire who have a relatively small squad in comparison to other counties. Head Coach Richard Dawson has been vocal in recent times about the inability to rotate which David echoes and explains in further detail.

“Having a rotation policy would be preferable but you need to have the squad and the bodies to be able to do it. Cricket is also a hard sport to rotate players in.

“For example, some bowlers might suit a certain wicket so you might want to rotate them out but how can you take your best performers out of the side. It is something you can’t really plan for either because you don’t know what kind of wicket you’re going to get until you turn up.

“It’s one of those things that looks easy on paper but in reality you just have to try and get your best 11 out on the field for every game.”

Head of Medial David Bartlett

With the Bob Willis Trophy and Vitality Blast squeezed into two months, the schedule will be tough on the players’ bodies particularly those who play a major role in both formats. The preparation in July when the squad returned to training with time constraints was particularly crucial and the team’s commitment in their free time is one thing Bartlett heavily praised.

“The lads were excellent during lockdown, we stayed in communication throughout and they did everything we asked of them to come back in great shape. We were wary of not pushing the players too far to not break them once they returned to playing full matches.

“One difficulty we encountered preseason was trying to replicate a full day of cricket when we only had two-hour training sessions three times a week. It was an unusual period and we had to think outside of the box to prepare the team to play cricket for hours when we couldn’t do that ourselves.

“What we did was encourage the players to go out and play a round of golf. It’s another sport in which you are on your feet for hours at a time and requires a certain level of concentration.

"I think it worked so well because the guys loved the fact that we were actively telling them to play golf!”

Alternative exercise is still a large part of keeping the players fit during the season which is something the strength and conditioning coaches have worked hard on.

Each player is given a programme to follow on their off days in order for them to reach a minimum standard of activity. Going for leisurely runs and bike rides is encouraged alongside a certain level of activity and recovery that aids the players without affecting their ability to play matches.

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