Rhodes banks on new fitness plan paying off

9:30am Thursday 6th November 2008

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WORCESTERSHIRE director of cricket Steve Rhodes believes that his side are sending out a statement of intent for the new campaign after returning to training this week.

The New Road players were back in the gym on Monday, more than four months earlier than last season, gearing up for life back in LV County Championship Division One.

With five months before the 2009 campaign kicks off in April, Rhodes feels his players will be fitter than ever and ready to tackle a gruelling season.

“The guys have started with our fitness trainer Dave Lowe and he feels that having them back this early means he can really get his teeth into them,” Rhodes said.

“By coming back in November after just a month off it shows how serious we are and it will be a huge benefit to us next season.”

The introduction this year of 12-month contracts, previously deals ran between March and September, has allowed Rhodes to call his players back at this stage.

While several of the County players are not yet on this type of contract, the majority are now back at New Road.

With work-outs in the gym on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, Lowe, who now works full-time with the County, puts on special sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

On Tuesday, Lowe had the players practicing wrestling moves after introducing boxing into their pre-match warm-ups last season.

Rhodes says that he is pleased with how Simon Jones’ latest stint of rehabilitation is going following knee surgery in September.

“Simon was on crutches for seven weeks and now he has started to exercise his upper body,” the New Road chief said.

“There is a long way to go, but we are happy with how he is coming along.”

Two players who have not joined up with their Worcestershire team-mates this week are Steven Davies and Stephen Moore.

The duo are off to the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough to join the England Performance Programme squad.

Davies and Moore are due out in India later this month for a four-week tour which also sees them link up with the full England squad.

n Graeme Hick made his Indian Cricket League debut for Chandigarh Lions.

The former Worcestershire star struck an 18-ball 36 hitting four fours and two sixes for his ex-New Road team-mate Andrew Hall’s side in their clash with Delhi Giants.