Bears star Olly is jolly glad to be back after injury hell
OLLY Stone has endured all manner of misfortune over the last two or three years.
Indeed, Warwickshire and the Birmingham Bears have been denied the talents of a bowler who remains very much on England’s radar.
The 28-year-old paceman has suffered four stress fractures in the last five seasons but is finally playing regularly again after working his way back to full fitness.
Stone has taken seven wickets in six Vitality Blast fixtures since his return and his figures have largely been very respectable.
“It’s great to be back,” he told the Birmingham Mail, ahead of tonight’s mouthwatering derby against Worcestershire Rapids at Edgbaston. “I’m feeling great, my body is good and I’m just loving being out there playing cricket again.
“It’s hard when it’s taken away from you. Hopefully people can see how much I enjoy it out there, and the feeling of taking wickets... there’s no better feeling.”
Stone didn’t play in last week’s four-day game against Lancashire which was simply a case of managing his comeback and ensuring he wasn’t asking too much of his body.
“The plan was to build my overs up safely, to get me out there,” he said. “We don’t know yet when that redball game will happen, I’ve still got aspirations to play four-day cricket and Test cricket and I do want to play that longer format.
“Hopefully that game will come this year, but we’re just trying to do everything we can so that no major injury happens again. It’s been a tough 11 months before getting back out on the field, and hopefully that doesn’t happen again. If we can look after myself then it’ll help me in the long run.”
The Bears took a big stride towards qualification for the Blast quarterfinals with a thrilling six-wicket win over Northants Steelbacks at Northampton on Wednesday.
The Steelbacks, having chosen to take first use of excellent batting conditions, totalled a hefty 211 for six. The Bears didn’t help themselves with dropped catches and fallible groundfielding.
A measure of control was imposed by Stone (one for 33) and Jake Lintott (two for 39), however, and their skills proved crucial as the Bears raced to 213 for four with seven balls to spare.
From an uneasy 44 for three, the charge was set in motion by Alex Davies, with a ferocious 42 from 18 balls, and then finished off in grand fashion with an unbeaten stand of 100 in 54 balls by Adam Hose (63, 44) and Chris Benjamin (58, 31). “To bounce back from the Derbyshire defeat like that shows the character we have in the dressing room,’’ said Hose.
“We need to take this into Friday because I think we can be a really strong contender in this tournament. We just have to keep believing that.
“We didn’t have our best day in the field and we’ve addressed that but it just shows our depth and character that we could go from ball one.
“My natural instincts are to be aggressive but, looking back through the tournament, when we have been three or four down in a chase we have lost those games, so I was backing myself to get a nice feel for the pace and the pitch and then trust myself to catch up and fortunately that is what happened.”
Hopefully people can see how much I enjoy it out there, and the feeling of taking wickets... there’s no better feeling.
Olly Stone