How Yorkshire CCC could be handed end-of-season boost by Matthew Fisher

MATTHEW FISHER could be back playing for Yorkshire before the end of the season.
Matthew Fisher is overjoyed after taking his first Test wicket at Barbados in March. Photo by Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images.Matthew Fisher is overjoyed after taking his first Test wicket at Barbados in March. Photo by Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images.
Matthew Fisher is overjoyed after taking his first Test wicket at Barbados in March. Photo by Randy Brooks/AFP via Getty Images.

The fast bowler has been out since April with a stress fracture of the back.

But he hopes to play for the second XI in a four-day game against Lancashire in Blackpool, starting on Monday.

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If he comes through that, Fisher could feature in the final two County Championship matches against Surrey at The Oval and against Gloucestershire at Headingley.

Yorkshire's Matthew Fisher celebrates taking the wicket of Gloucestershire's Ben Charlesworth during his solitary first-team appearance of the season to date. Photo: David Davies/PA Wire.Yorkshire's Matthew Fisher celebrates taking the wicket of Gloucestershire's Ben Charlesworth during his solitary first-team appearance of the season to date. Photo: David Davies/PA Wire.
Yorkshire's Matthew Fisher celebrates taking the wicket of Gloucestershire's Ben Charlesworth during his solitary first-team appearance of the season to date. Photo: David Davies/PA Wire.

Fisher, 24, feels that the Gloucestershire game might be the more realistic target - ironically, the opponents when he broke down in the opening match of the season in Bristol.

He resumed bowling very tentatively about six weeks ago and sent down 12 overs at full intensity on Monday during practice sessions around the ongoing Roses fixture at Old Trafford.

Fisher will bowl another 14 overs on Thursday - his quota of 26 for the week - and hopes to build on that in next week’s second team game.

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It has been a long road back to fitness, but the signs are good as Fisher looks to hand the club a major end-of-season boost.

“I’ve gradually been upping my workloads and I’m hoping to play a four-day Second XI Championship game against Lancashire at Blackpool from Monday,” he said.

“The first team are also playing on Monday (against Essex in the Championship at Headingley), and there are two more Championship games after that.

“If I can come through that second-team game, then you never know. I could potentially be back for the Surrey game at The Oval but, more likely perhaps, for the Gloucestershire game at Headingley, but we’ll just have to see.”

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Fisher always hoped that his season would not be over after he went down during that opening fixture.

It was particularly bad luck on a man who has had more than his share of injuries and who was just beginning to realise his potential.

Fisher had made his Test debut only the previous month, against West Indies in Barbados, after making a favourable impact on the Lions trip to Australia, which followed on from a strong finish to the 2021 season with Yorkshire.

He felt good on his way to first innings figures of 4-19 from 14.1 overs against Gloucestershire only for injury to strike him down once again.

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“It’s been tough, but playing for England in the winter definitely helped, gave me a lot of confidence and spurred me on,” said Fisher. “I think I’d have been a lot more down if I hadn’t played for England, which just solidified in my mind what I love and what I really want to do.

“Even though the injury has been so hard to get through, I’ve been really positive through it all because I know that when I do get back and can play consistently, my performance is at a good level.

“In Australia, with the Lions, I think that’s the best I’ve ever bowled, and the path is a lot clearer when you see what it takes to be at the top level.”

In that respect, Fisher has drawn inspiration from the likes of Ben Stokes, the England Test captain, not only in terms of the performance levels needed but also the fitness and physical condition demanded.

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All-rounder Stokes is a notoriously fierce trainer and Fisher has been working hard behind the scenes all summer to build up his strength, to build up his core, both as an adjunct to his cricket but also in terms of trying to ward off future injury problems.

“Being around the England side, you realise what it takes to be an international athlete, not just a player,” said Fisher, who is hoping for a long and prosperous international career.

“I definitely had stuff to work on physically.

"I’ve been quite skinny all my career, but I’ve put on 4kg in muscle since I got injured.

Fisher continued: “Of course, there’s always this debate - oh, don’t do the gym.

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"In fact, I got a message the other day from (the former Yorkshire and England all-rounder) Tim Bresnan, and it was like, ‘Stay out of the gym!’

“But looking at guys like Ben Stokes this winter, you can see the physical standard you need to reach to be a top international athlete for a long period of time.

“I’ve just tried to be as proactive as possible in terms of my fitness. Two or three weeks after the injury I was able to do stuff in the gym that was not affecting my back, and after a scan after seven weeks showed that the bone had healed, I was able to start loading it with some running and some lower-body gym work.

“Since then, I’ve just been building things up, building my bowling back up from 12-16 weeks, starting at Scarborough, and it’s been going really well.”

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That will be music to the ears of Yorkshire’s supporters, who have not seen nearly enough of this talented player in recent times.

With Fisher in their ranks, Yorkshire have a lot more cutting edge and a lot more X-factor to boot.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​