When I last posted my thoughts it was a cold damp day in England I'd finished training in the Rose bowl indoor school and another day of getting me ready for the season was over, I'm now writing this blog on a beautiful morning in Barbados with the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach, life doesn't really get much better.

It has been a fantastic trip so far and as a squad we have been incredibly lucky to tour such a fantastic country and be in the sunshine for our seasons preparations. The first stage of the trip was just geared towards the bowlers and getting us back into the swing of things outdoors and also to get us some dedicated time to work on our batting which in the modern game is so important.

With just 12 of us on the first stage of the trip there was also an element of team building and ensuring the bowlers gelled together as a unit which will be important when we are running in on a flat one later in the season!  For this reason we were staying in apartments of four cooking and living together it was brilliant I was rooming with simon jones and had the bowling coach John Ayling and Dominic Cork to complete the group. To say it was a laugh a minute would be an understatement.

What we all weren't quite expecting was how intense and quickly everyone would get up to speed again. I've not seen many more intense net sessions at this time of year before, its been fantastic. The highlight for me had to be a quick and bouncy net at the Kensington oval. To set the scene I was paired up with Sean Ervine and I had to bat to see him through to the end of the days play, the coach then unleashed Simon Jones, James Tomlinson and Kabir Ali on us. I'm still nursing the bruises as it was probably some of the quickest bowling I've faced for a while but what an experience. It's fantastic to see the squad gearing up for the season so well.

The second phase of the trip is geared towards getting back to competitive cricket and gearing up to our first game on April 8th against Durham. The hostile nets have not stopped and now it's the turn of some of the front line batters to be in the firing line which is always great to see.

There are still a few of us still on the road to fitness after some big injuries which has meant that we have continued our rehab in and around training it's been tough but having such a great support staff has made progression back a smooth process. I'm still not quite there but encouragingly I have been bowling at around 75% and it's going fairly well and hopefully it continues to do so (touch wood). It's actually nice to wake up in the morning and feel the "good" aches and pains that remind me I'm back doing the thing I love which is bowling and playing cricket it's a step in the right direction.

Beach training has been tough but a little easier when there is some beautiful scenery to look at and crystal clear water to dive into to cool off. We've only had one game so far a 40 over game vs Essex which I can report was a success and were now looking forward to playing against some of the other county's that have recently arrived. I'll have to watch from the sidelines and keep going with the rehab but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.