After making his England debut against the West Indies in March, Matt Fisher was looking forward to a big 2022.
However, when he returned to action for Yorkshire in the County Championship in April, Fisher suffered an all too familiar setback when he was sidelined by injury. Despite making his senior debut at the age of just 15 in 2013, Fisher's repeated injury woes mean he has only played 97 games across all formats.
The 25-year-old's most recent injury was a stress fracture of the back, which kept him out of action for five months before he returned in Yorkshire's final game of the season in September. Fisher was part of England's training group ahead of the Pakistan series in the winter and is now preparing to feature for the England Lions against Sri Lanka A.
And Fisher is hoping his hard work in rehab will pay dividends this year, with the seamer taking inspiration from Australia's fast bowling cohort to bulk up and add around 5kg of muscle to try and reduce his chances of suffering yet more injuries.
"If you improve every single part of your game then hopefully you are giving yourself the best chance to not get injured, I have just tried to do that," he explained. "Literally, looking in a mirror I just thought, I don't look as robust as some players I've seen this winter and maybe that's something to look at.
"I basically said to our S&C [Yorkshire's strength and conditioning coach Harry Brooker], 'I want you to make me look like an Australian fast bowler', because they all seem to look solid. [Pat] Cummins, [Josh] Hazlewood, [Mitchell] Starc, they all look pretty strong.
"I ate loads that first three months. It wasn't Maccies [McDonald's] and stuff like that, but it was just to get so much in where you can't eat any more, so you can build the muscle, and then once you start playing and bowling again then it drops off, which it did. I've gone from 86kgs to 91kgs and my skin folds are very similar, so it's just muscle. I feel a lot stronger now. I think I look more like a man rather than a boy."
And in an Ashes year Fisher is hoping to play his part in a new-look England side under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, but knows he faces stiff competition for places with the likes of Olly Stone, Jofra Archer and Saqib Mahmood also returning from injury ahead of the series.
"I can't really control where I am in the pecking order, so for me it's just about bowling well and I know how fast it can happen," he added. "It happened last winter, so I am just hoping for that again at some point.
"There's been indoor sessions where I am visualising bowling at David Warner, so it's definitely in my mind. But in terms of it being a goal of mine this summer, it's not like on my wall or anything. If that happens, it happens. For me, it's just bowling well for Yorkshire and then hopefully I'll get another chance at some point."
