I can't quite believe it, but it's been one year since my second op (for those who don't know I had my original knee recon on the 1st of October and 2nd op on the 11th of October 2010 to clean out the staph infection I had). This time last year I was celebrating my birthday in hospital awaiting my second op so I'm quite relieved not to be in the same position this year! I've come quite a long way since and on Sunday played my 2nd cricket match although it was a friendly.
The week before that I played in my first match and it was quite nerve racking to be honest. Although I did have 5 training sessions prior to it, playing in an actual match is always more intense. It was a 20/20 game and we fielded first. After warming up I started fielding at my customary mid off/on position. Thankfully I didn't have to dive around to much during the 20 overs although I was definitely cautious with my knee which will probably take time to overcome. At one stage I had an opportunity to slide and keep the batsmen to one run, however I decided to run after it instead which allowed them 2 runs. I figure I'd rather look after my knee than worry about giving away an extra run!
Unfortunately with the bat I didn't stay in long enough to test my knee as I was out clean bowled for one on my 3rd delivery which was a great ball by the way :) Overall it went well and it was good to play my first cricket game in over a year which gave me some confidence! I then played my 2nd game on Sunday which was a 'friendly' match due to the official game being cancelled due to weather conditions (which was a bizzare decision as it wasn't a bad day!). It ended up being a 30 over game which was a really good test for my knee. I ended up having a great day, making a good solid 19 (batting for approx 7-8 overs) and taking 2 really good outfield catches which tested my knee! I also captained our team to a 2 run win :) The recovery was quite good even if the knee was a little sore in the evening. Overall I am really happy with where I am at and looking forward to the official season commencement this Sunday hopefully!
