Richard Edwards looks behind the injury to Fidel Edwards and wonders whether counties will soon have to rethink their match-day preparations
To kick or not to kick is the question taxing the powers that be at Hampshire in the week the nation marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. And, given the current over-crowded state of the county’s physio room, there are plenty who would argue that football warm-ups should be banished for good.
Hampshire were feeling understandably satisfied with life after their battling comeback at Headingley on Wednesday morning when the players opted for a quick kickabout on Yorkshire’s pristine outfield.
Moments later, Fidel Edwards was laying on the ground and coach Dale Benkenstein was contemplating a spell in the field as Hampshire’s already small squad got smaller still.
Edwards suffered a broken ankle and went under the knife on Tuesday. Hampshire’s hero from last season now faces a prolonged period on the sidelines and it’s now up to the county to decide if football should be similarly marginalised.
“It’s extraordinary the amount of injuries we’ve had,” said Giles White, Hampshire’s team manager. “It’s something we’ll discuss (banning football) and it’s something we’ve discussed in the past. We’ve had time where we haven’t played football for this very reason.
“Those debates will continue but England play football before a day’s play so they’ve clearly done their research. Yes, you can get injured playing football but you can get injured doing anything, can’t you? You could get finger injuries playing touch rugby so you just never know.
“Football has been great for us in terms of getting the guys energised in the morning and the boys enjoy it – they’re really the sort of things you have to consider before you make the call.”
Edwards’ unfortunate break is far from an isolated incident of the beautiful game making an ugly mess of a cricketer’s body. Matt Prior famously suffered a back spasm playing football just minutes before the Headingley Ashes Test of 2009, a match England would go on to lose heavily.
A month later, Joe Denly found himself on the receiving end of an Owais Shah tackle – described by then-captain Andrew Strauss as being “a bit clumsy” – and ended up in a crumpled heap on the outfield of the Oval.
Michael Vaughan, meanwhile, suffered a twisted knee on the final day of a County Championship match between Yorkshire and Worcestershire at Headingley in the same year.
While Prior and Denly were soon back to full fitness, however, Vaughan retired shortly after. Clearly then, questions need to be asked as to whether football – still the warm-up of choice for most cricketers – remains the most sensible way of preparing for a game of cricket.
“What happened to Fidel could really happen to anyone, it could happen when you’re turning for a slip catch, it’s just a freak accident,” said Dean Conway, who worked as England’s physio for ten years between 1997 and 2007.
“The only rules you put into any game of football is that it’s non-contact so there’s as little risk as possible. There’s probably as much danger in a game of football as there is chucking a beanbag around.
“Every time something like this happens and if he had been clobbered by the 6ft 7ins centre-back then they would probably be justified. As it is, he just fell over, he seems to have tackled himself.
“Football is a great way of warming the players up. It’s brilliant in terms of agility and warming up the muscles.
“You have to think of the mindset of the players as well. It’s a long, long season and they’re out there doing 50 warm-ups day-in, day-out. There has to be a bit of variation. Football is easy to set-up, too.
“It’s all about getting a balance between a more rigid, boring, regime every single day – the 10-metre shuttle runs or some side-to-side sprints – but if you’ve got two or three touch football with no contact then I still think it’s one of the best warm-ups a cricketer can do.
“Yes, someone can slip but you can do that chasing a cricket ball down in slip-catching practice.”
Hampshire are all too aware of the perils of innocent injuries. England U19 captain, Brad Taylor, became the latest player to suffer from the county’s current curse when he turned his ankle over while simply walking down the pitch during a 2nd XI game at the Ageas Bowl on Monday. He spent Tuesday with his foot in a medical boot but hardly looked out of place among the walking wounded of the Division One side.
“You do wonder if there’s something we’ve done to upset someone,” said White. “We’ve had nine players injured in a squad of 18 so it’s quite some challenge at the moment.
“The bizarre thing is that most of them have been freak injuries, too. We had Reece Topley injuring himself batting which you wouldn’t have called either.
“They’re key players getting injured, too. We’ve had Gareth Berg, the player of the year and sensational for us last year, Topley and Edwards, the star of the show last year and international quality as well. Jimmy Adams has missed the first couple of games, as well, after twisting his ankle avoiding a bouncer in Barbados. You can’t really make it up.”
Giving the calamitous current situation, White will hope that Tino Best, who arrived at Hampshire on Sunday on a short-term loan deal, manages to stay fit during his time on the south coast.
“He has bowled in the 2nd XI with good pace and he’s very excited about the opportunity,” said White. “I think he sees very limited opportunities in the West Indies now, a little bit similar to the situation Fidel found himself in last year. He has probably seen how things developed for Fidel and hoped he could emulate that.
“There’s plenty of motivation for him and hopefully it will work out well for both parties. Mind you, we might need to wrap him in cotton wool. We’ve had our fair share of injuries and can get a little bit of luck the other way now.”
With Middlesex next up for Hampshire, there will be plenty of interest in the warm-up. The home side will hope to kick on after back-to-back draws against Yorkshire and Warwickshire. Whether they can kick a ball before doing so remains to be seen…
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday April 29 2016
