Waters reaps rewards of fitness regime

Huw Waters has put his career-best figures of seven for 53 against Hampshire down to the hard work he has put in to get back from stress fracture of the back which decimated his 2011 season.

Last summer the 25-year-old Welsh seamer figured in only three County Championship matches in April, bowling only 59 overs, before being sidelined.

But he has hit the ground running this season, taking wickets with his first two balls of the campaign at Leicester and then helping to bowl Hampshire out for 156 on Friday (April 20).

“It is nice to get the rewards for all the efforts over the last year getting back to full fitness,” said Waters. “The main thing was that the injury healed naturally.

“While it was disappointing to be out of the game, it has given me time to get fit for this summer and it has been paying off.”

Waters took six wickets in the first match against Leicestershire, but was rested against Derbyshire as Glamorgan carefully managed his workload before returning in style against Hampshire.

“My back is fine, but it needed a few extra days to recover from the previous week,” added Waters. “I played back-to-back matches against the Oxford students and Leicestershire and I bowled 40 overs.

“Hopefully missing the one game against Derbyshire means I can play a bit more at the back end of the season. I did not want to rush things and come back too quickly so it was more of a precaution.”

Waters’ seven-star performance was the best individual return by a Glamorgan bowler at Cardiff since Michael Kasprowicz's nine for 36 against Durham in 2003.

“I am very pleased and it feels special,” added Waters. “It has been bugging me because I have taken four wickets about six or seven times so I was desperate to get the fifth one and the two extra were a bonus.

“I was lucky I have hit a rhythm at the beginning of the season and I have to try to keep that going.”

 

Date: 21/04/2012 12:58:16 by Richard Thomas
In: Today | Glamorgan |