Anderson pacing himself in bid to make Brisbane
Three months after being diagnosed with a double stress fracture in his spine, Black Caps allrounder Corey Anderson remains upbeat and focused on the start line in Brisbane on November 5.
He is expected to be named tomorrow in the New Zealand squad for the much-awaited threetest series against Australia, but will be tiptoeing a tightrope before departure.
For now he’s bowling off two paces at ‘‘level one’’ intensity, a workload strictly monitored by New Zealand Cricket medical staff. The plan is to ‘‘push it to the edge’’ in the next six weeks and be considered for Northern Districts’ Plunket Shield opener against Wellington on October 15, five days before the plane departs for Australia.
New Zealand need him fit and firing, with the other allrounder option Jimmy Neesham also battling a back problem which flared again in South Africa, after a seven-month recovery from his own stress fracture. If both are struggling it creates a major selection headache for coach Mike Hesson, with few viable alternatives in the No 6-pace bowling allrounder spot.
‘‘It’s felt like a pretty slow process as backs always seem to take a lot longer. Everything is going to plan and I’m just hoping to make myself available for that tour. That’s the time frame I’ve been given and I’m on track for that,’’ Anderson said.
‘‘That first test [starting November 5] is the aim and if I’m not right I obviously won’t be playing. I wouldn’t go in 80 per cent.’’
Back stress fractures are the bane of a cricketer’s existence and require extreme patience and a glowingly positive outlook. Anderson had both since he shuffled off Lord’s on May 25 after New Zealand’s first test defeat to England, and returned home to be diagnosed with fractures in the L3 and L5 vertebra in his lower back.
The international schedule at least worked in his favour. He missed the limited overs tour of Africa and the forecast recovery time fitted conveniently with the first week of November, assuming there are no setbacks.
‘‘Whether there’s one or two [stress fractures] it doesn’t really matter; the time frame will stay the same. It’s not nice and it was almost a relief that I found out I had something and I could treat it and get back on the park. You get a little bit worried that you’ll have to keep playing through pain.’’
At 24, Anderson’s CV reads 11 tests and 35 ODIs. Twenty-three of those ODIs were in a five-month period taking in the World Cup, which began with three tough tests in the United Arab Emirates.
By the time he hit out strongly for 67 in a losing cause on the final day at Lord’s, he was broken.
‘‘We started in Dubai with a pretty big tour, then the home summer and all the focus was on the World Cup trying to time our bodies to peak during that period. It all kept flowing on to IPL, then the England tour and no one really had time to take a breather and realise what we’d done over that six-month period. ‘‘I had a couple of niggles; a broken hand through the IPL and a bit of flying time which wouldn’t have helped the back, then straight into test matches.’’
Fast bowler Trent Boult’s back also cried enough in England. His stress-related injury wasn’t as bad as Anderson’s and he’s on track for Australia, while another key bowler Tim Southee had an extended period off to rest and strengthen in the gym. Anderson has been an ODI matchwinner but wants to lift his value in tests, having duelled with Neesham for the allrounder’s spot the past two years. An average of 31 with the bat and 39 with the ball is handy, without being world-beating.
Australia is the ultimate and will be Anderson’s first tour there. He’s got his head around the idea of the pink ball test in Adelaide and wants to ease his main doubt by batting against it in the proposed squad game under lights in Hamilton early next month.
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