Theron upbeat despite injury
Chevrolet Warriors fast bowler Rusty Theron believes his current injury layoff could be a blessing in disguise as he continues to recuperate from a stress fracture suffered in June.
The 27-year-old is three months into a rehabilitation programme after the problem cropped up while on Twenty20 duty with English county side Sussex.
If all goes according to plan, he is expected to return to the playing field in late November or December.
“It’s been a while now since it’s happened, so I’ve come to terms with sitting on the sidelines,” he told supersport.com. “We weren’t really sure what it was initially, so I went away for a while on a break, before we eventually discovered the problem.
“There’s not much you can do about it. No operation or anything like that. It’s been a chance to do everyday things really, things that you don’t get to do during a regular season.
“It was boring and really frustrating initially, but we’re getting there now.”
Theron, who will miss the early part of the Sunfoil Series, expects to play some role in the Momentum One Day Cup.
He admits that the injury has more than likely come from an overload of cricket over recent seasons.
“I have no history with this type of injury,” he said. “It’s the first time and I guess it comes from an overload of cricket in many ways over the past three years. It’s just climaxed during the winter.”
And he has now opted to look at the positives that come from his time on sidelines.
He said: “I was just saying to (captain) Davey (Jacobs) the other day, it’s never cool to sit on the sidelines, but often as a bowler you have a long injury layoff like this when you may miss half the season and then you go on and extend your career by another two seasons.
“And at the same time you come back a bit more hungry and a little more determined to do even better because you have had that time out.”
Theron believes the Warriors, strugglers in the four-day competition in recent seasons, have enough quality to cope without him and has tipped the franchise to find some fresh fast-bowling faces this year.
“Andrew Birch has done well, so he’ll lead the attack again,” he added. “It’s also a fantastic opportunity for some of the younger fast bowlers.
“It’s times like these when there is the need for somebody new to step up, a really good opportunity for a new face to shine and hopefully we’ll get that at the Warriors.”
