There were moments when I thought I'd never get back to cricket, reveals Jhye Richardson

10/10/2019

Australian speedster Jhye Richardson talks about the different kinds of emotions that he went through during his rehab after suffering from a dislocated shoulder in late March. The young sensation will make his return to red-ball cricket having played his last game against Sri Lanka in February.

The 23-year-old fiery pacer had burst onto the scene last year, with impressive performances against India in ODI’s and then against Sri Lanka in Tests. He was tipped to be of great importance to Australia for its 2019 World Cup campaign. But unfortunately, he suffered an injury lay-off which kept him out for six months with an injured right shoulder.

"When you're going through rehab, you have moments when you're never really sure if you're going to get back to where you were," Richardson told cricket.com.au.

Richardson feared that he would never be able to generate the kind of pace that he used to before his injury. For any bowler, pace is one of the prized assets and it is almost unthinkable for someone so young to imagine losing that fiery pace.

"There were periods of two to three weeks where nothing was getting better. It was still really sore, and I was off half my run, just trying to get faster and better and stronger. And nothing was really happening,” he further added.

Richardson had the support of his close ones who always motivated him to carry on with the hard work and they made him believe that everything will fall in place one day. No improvement in the earlier stages of the rehab was disheartening and frustrating but he kept on working hard every single day.

He was hopeful of being fit before the 2019 Cricket World Cup. But it was not meant to be. "I gave myself eight weeks to get up for it and looking back, that was probably very ambitious," he said.

But gradually, his pace began to increase. It was at the MRF pace academy under the supervision of Glenn McGrath that he crossed the 140 kmph mark for the first time post his return from injury. He began to fall in love with the game and began to feel positive about his progress.

"When you're having fun … you're not overthinking, you're not trying too hard. When you try too hard, you're going to perform too well because you're putting too much pressure on yourself," he said.

"If I have fun and play with a clear mind, hopefully, the performances will come. Whatever comes after that is a bonus," concluded Richardson.