"I still wake up every morning and love it": Why every day is like Christmas for the evergreen Tony Palladino

NICK HOWSON: The new cricket season never seems further away than during holiday season but whether it be winter training or taking wickets, the 36-year-old is revelling in every minute

Despite being a little over six months short of his 37th birthday, Tony Palladino is the big kid of cricket's County Championship. After 249 appearances, 546 wickets and 3,231 runs across two decades as a professional, the Londoner holds the same enthusiasm for the sport as he did when he first laced up his bowling boots many moons ago. After 16 years in the system, love is very much all you need.

"You're a long time retired," the Derbyshire quick told The Cricketer. "I was always told to play as long as you can while you're still in the job. Hanging around while not doing well can always pain you.

"As long as I'm doing a job and bowling well and someone wants me to keep playing then I can keep doing the best job in the world a bit long. I still wake up every morning and love it.

"Even when you do some running deep down you know you're in a very privileged position and very lucky to have done this for a long time. This is something that will stay with me when the time come to finally hang them up. I will miss the feeling of doing the job I love doing."

It is at this time of the year when that devotion is truly tested. Preparations for Christmas are in full flow. Plans for seeing in 2020 are building. New Year's resolutions are being formulated, revised and hastily ditched. There is plenty to get excited about.

Meanwhile, domestic cricketers up and down the country are putting in the hard yards. Only as recently as the turn of the century, the structure of the off-season has totally changed. The job of the county cricketer is no longer a six-month position. Groundwork for the new season begins before the fixtures are even released. March returns have been replaced by sessions in November. Part-time winter jobs are a thing of the past.

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"It has changed quite a lot," explained the Derbyshire and ex-Essex seamer, who has experienced the alteration first-hand. "I started getting involved in professional cricket before I signed a contract.

"We seem to be coming back earlier and earlier. It used to be March you would report back, you'd do some fitness tests and then you have a net and ease yourself in.

"In the winter there would be a net here or there and a few organised sessions. Especially the last 5-10 years that November time gets earlier and earlier. 

"You feel like more of an athlete because you're not doing much cricket until you come back in January.

"At Derby, we've definitely been like that, the last few years I've been here. I do know some clubs who do cricket in December time but I quite like it this way. You can get some burnout if you do cricket too early."

Bats, balls, pads and helmets stay in the trunk until the New Year. With demands on the modern-day player having never been greater - there are 140 separate days of cricket scheduled between April and September in England next summer - there is a new pressure to be an all-round athlete, otherwise, the gruelling schedule will catch up with you.

So while the festive spirit is flowing across the country, cricketers are putting themselves through the pain barrier. Hill runs, sprints, gym sessions, core workouts. What used to be forfeits are now staples of a cricketer's lifestyle.

"When we've got an early start it is the younger guys who are complaining," said Palladino. "During the longer runs, it is definitely me complaining because I am thinking 'how am I going to get through this and I just want to go and have a bowl?' 

^{Tony Palladino started out at Essex}

"The younger guys cope pretty well with the physical stuff. A few of them winge a little when we do the core stuff. If we're indoors and it is nice and warm then it is not too bad but last week we were running up a hill and it is like one or two degrees. It was cold and windy and there was definitely some complaining then.

"I've had teammates before who have got a bit arsey and people have made one or two off-cuff comments, which questions what they're doing. Everyone drags everyone along and sometimes I get a few of the younger lads helping me and visa versa."

A more professional outlook away from the middle also bleeds into the choices players make at the dinner table. The most indulgent period of the year provides a flurry of temptations and with scrutiny over weight and body shape greater than ever, there is little room for error.

"I was always pretty good but there was no stuff like that," added Palladino. "They weren't telling you 'don't do this, don't do that'. Nothing like that. They're not really strict now unless you've got some glaring problem -  you're overweight or you've come back in shocking shape - you're given a lot of trust.

"If you abuse that trust then coaches and physios get a bit annoyed. As long as you don't take the mick with that then you have free rein. We're actively encouraged to enjoy Christmas. We've got two weeks off and we've been told to enjoy ourselves.

"You're monitored a lot more. You're given that responsibility as a professional to look after yourself outside of any of the sessions that you're doing.

"We're weighed, there is more of that now. If you have a bit of self-respect, when you come back you're shown up in front of everyone, if you do come back in a state. Professionalism has gone through the roof.

"As a more senior pro I have pulled a couple of lads aside and spoken to them and said that you've not come back in great shape and you need to knuckle down because it is going to affect you.

^{Cricketers are often forced indoors during the winter months}

"You haven't got to come back ripped to shreds but they expect a certain level of fitness. When guys take the mick out of that is when the problems occur. I've had words with a few lads before and said this isn't on. Sometimes it hits and home and sometimes it hasn't.

"It happens and it doesn't reflect well on them. You're expected to maintain a certain level of fitness. It is generous. You don't have to be running four-minute miles it is just a certain level of fitness."

Though Palladino has previously partaken in a Christmas Day run his recent trips to the homeland of his Polish wife have torpedoed efforts to keep himself ticking over during his time off.

There is, of course, a serious reason behind Palladino dedicated approach. Due to turn 37 next summer and with only a year left on his contract at the County Ground, he is firmly playing for his future. His body is his work and in that respect, he can ill-afford to be complacent.

"I've had discussions with the coach (Dave Houghton) and he's said at your age it is going to be year-by-year.

"The last two or three years my stats have been better than over the rest of my career so I feel like that side is looking after itself.

"I'd like to think that if I can stay fit I've still got another year or so. Tim Murtagh has signed another deal at Middlesex, Stevo is about 67 and he's signed another deal. He is a freak really; he bowls and bowls and bashes it.

"I've always done the same thing, run-in and try and move it about a bit. If I can keep doing that and people keep missing them or hitting them then I might be about a bit longer.

^{Derbyshire reached T20 Finals Day last season for the first time}

"I am doing my coaching badges so I am trying to cover a few bases. Things can change really quickly. If the opportunity came up that is something that I would love to do."

If this is indeed Palladino's final season as a professional, he will be keen to repeat his heroics from 2012 when he claimed 56 wickets and guided Derbyshire too promotion. Sean Abbott and Michael Cohen will provide extra thrust in the bowling department, as well as additional competition, while Ben McDermott is the first overseas T20 Blast signing.

"Abbott and McDermott are both exciting cricketers who are in the Australia fold as well," gleamed Palladino. "It a coup for us really to get an up and coming international bowler with good experience as well.

"We've got a very good bowling attack as it is and that's going to add well to our stocks as it is. In the T20 we showed that on our day we're as good as anyone.

"Given what we've got to work with budget-wise we're punching above our weight. For the new year, we might have one of our better squads since I've been at Derby. We've got a complete squad and some of it is quite exciting.

"Hopefully we actually see Abbott because he is someone who will enjoy the early season with the Dukes ball. All the signs are good and if we can keep producing some result wickets at Derby we'll be right up there if we play good cricket."

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