GOUGH: KEY TO BOWLERS STAYING FIT: KEEP BOWLING

PACE legend Darren Gough has told England’s battery of crocked speed merchants the key to avoiding so many injuries is to keep bowling.

Using the benefit of his experience as a man who took 229 Test wickets across 58 matches, and who had his fair share of injuries, Gough said breaks in the schedule are the enemy.

England have nine bowlers unavailable for Test cricket due to injury and skipper Ben Stokes (above) has limited his overs due to fitness concerns.

But Yorkshire director of cricket Gough (below) reckons when they are fit and raring to go, they need to avoid lengthy breaks that will see them have to build up their workload all over again.

“My personal opinion from experience is that a bowler needs to be bowling just under 11 months a year,” he said. “Going through your action consistently throughout the year.

“I think there are too many gaps now for the guys who are stopping and starting.

“You don’t have to come off the long run every time, but you need to keep bowling, using muscles and getting through your action.

“Tell batsmen to have time off and it is impossible. They want to hit balls every day, but for bowlers they are told to stop and go away.

“You’ve got to disappear for three months and come back in January and build up.

“Fast bowling is hard. You are going to get injuries, bowling on flat pitches, trying to take wickets is hard, but that is the game.”

Gough stressed that it was his opinion he was voicing, and was looking forward to hearing about some new research the ECB have done into fast-bowling injuries.

Some older bowlers believe stress fractures of the back have been an occupational hazard for many a year, but bowlers played on in the past simply because they didn’t know they had them.

“England are doing a review into the injuries affecting fast bowlers in this country,” added Gough.

“I’ve got a meeting on Monday about back injuries and what the latest research is on it.”