Ashes 2021-22 | Knowing I can bowl a lot of overs unscathed put me in a good place, says Jhye Richardson

11/19/2021

Australia pacer Jhye Richardson has said that knowing he can bowl a lot of overs without getting injured puts him in a good space. Richardson made his Test debut in 2019 against Sri Lanka at home but injuries since then have kept him out of reckoning over the last two and a half years.

The 25-year-old might make his comeback in the longest format in the upcoming Ashes. He made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in a two-match series at home in 2019 and impressed everyone immediately. He took five wickets in his debut game, which was a pink-ball match before playing his second and last game for the side before injuries started taking a toll. In April 2019, he sustained a shoulder dislocation in an ODI game against Pakistan in the UAE which led him to miss the ODI World Cup and the Ashes in England.

Currently, the Western Australia-born player is plying his trade for his state team in the Sheffield Shield. He is the third highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 16 wickets with an average of 12.50 and a strike-rate of 32. His best figures of the season of 8/61 came last week at the Gabba. Notably, he has bowled 85.2 overs which keeps him in contention for the comeback. Meanwhile, Richardson said that injuries set a player back for a long period of time.

"An injury like that, that sets you back for so long. There's certainly some of those negative thoughts that come in. Whether or not I'm going to get back to where I was,” Richardson told reporters in Perth.

"Or could I swing the ball or have my variations or whatever? Getting consecutive games in, it makes it all worth it...to know that I can bowl that many overs, relatively unscathed, I think it puts me in a good place."

The 25-year-old had a back spasm in October but he recovered quickly, which gave the chief selector, George Bailey, a lot of relief and was impressed with his bowling spell last week.

"Getting pretty excited by Jhye. Physically I think he looks as strong as I've seen ever seen him...he's starting to build some resilience into his body,” Bailey said.

"One particular spell was really impressive. He ended up getting the wickets of Marnus and Joe Burns, who both commented that it was impressive quality."

The chief selector informed Richardson about the selection in the Ashes squad during the same game and the pacer was super excited.

"It's one of the biggest series that you can possibly be involved in. Super exciting. The focus is, if I do get a game, to just make sure that I'm doing everything that I have done up until this point. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself," said the right-arm pacer.

The first game of the five-match series will start from December 8 in Brisbane at the Gabba.