Matt Fisher: "I just feel like a weight's been lifted from my shoulders"

Fisher made his England debut against West Indies last month and began the County Championship season in style for Yorkshire

Matt Fisher believes that a "weight has been lifted" from his shoulders following his England debut, having begun his LV= Insurance County Championship campaign with a four-wicket haul at Bristol.

The 24-year-old made his international bow on the Test tour of the Caribbean and came away with credit for his performance on a flat surface at Bridgetown.

He followed that up with a standout display against Gloucestershire that began with his very first ball flying off a length and zipping through to be taken by Yorkshire wicketkeeper Harry Duke above his head.

Soon afterwards, he enticed Ben Charlesworth to edge behind, before producing a delivery to James Bracey that straightened and was taken at second slip. He claimed a third when Miles Hammond hooked to fine leg, before picking up a fourth with the dismissal of No.11 Ajeet Singh-Dale, ending with figures of 4 for 19 in 14.1 overs.

"I've always been a young player who always dreamt of playing for England, and you always put that at the top of your goal," said Fisher of the new-found confidence provided by his England cap.

"That's on the top of your sheet, and you're literally like: 'How can I get there?' I put in loads of hard work, but I am deep down quite an anxious overthinker, especially with the injuries that I've been through that naturally cause anxiety.

"To be brutally honest, I just feel like a weight's been lifted from my shoulders."

Fisher was part of the England Lions trip to Australia during the first half of the winter, where he impressed sufficiently to be named in the squad for the West Indies series. He acknowledged the significance of that show of faith, admitting that "there are lots of bowlers in the country with better records than me".

He added: "But I think that the pace I bowl at and the skill hopefully stood out to them. They invested in that. I just want to reward that by playing as much as I can and getting wickets."

^{Fisher was handed his England Test cap by Joe Root (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)}

Ahead of the Lions tour, Fisher studied footage of his action from side-on and determined that his run-up needed lengthening. He explained: "At the end of last season, I was like: 'I think there's a ceiling to how I can be as a bowler off this run-up.'"

He promptly worked with Jon Lewis, England's bowling coach, at Loughborough and Rich Pyrah, the former equivalent at Yorkshire. The upshot is that he thinks his "ceiling is a lot higher than what it was before".

"I felt like I potentially wasn't getting enough momentum from my run-up and then forcing at the crease, which was potentially leading to muscle injuries because I was forcing it. I've only extended it 10 feet but that gives me two or three extra paces, and then hopefully that gives me more momentum to not have to force it, and you get the speed from the speed of your run-up.

"I think naturally I'm bowling a little bit quicker than what I used to, and it just helps with accuracy. If I had a shorter run-up, and I'm trying to bowl faster off that shorter run-up, I'm forcing it and not balanced, so you're not going to be accurate. Whereas now, I can just run in at the pace that I want to run in and try to hit where I hit and not think about pace too much, because I know that I'll hopefully get it from my run-up."

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