It has been quite a busy few weeks for me since I wrote my last blog about having a further operation on my right knee. I have been back to see the specialist, Andy Williams, and while it is still early days in my recovery, he seems pleased with the progress I am making.
Since I had the surgery, which ruled me out of playing in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings, I have been told to rest and avoid any strenuous exercise. It left me at a bit of a loose end, but fortunately an opportunity arose which helped me fill my time.
I was approached by Sky One to appear on a new panel-show called “A League of their Own”, which stars James Cordon from Gavin and Stacey, Jamie Redknapp, a comedian called John Bishop and Sky Sports presenter Georgie Thompson. We had several guests for each show, including my old mate Steve Harmison, and I really enjoyed learning about the processes involved in making a television show.
It was something very different for me and I was a bit nervous to start with because all the rest of them had run through what they were supposed to do and had rehearsals whereas I came in cold at the last minute. It’s been a lot of fun and I think there were some funny shows, but we’ll have to wait and see what everyone else thinks when it goes out on March 11.
The really good thing about the show was that it helped take my mind off being injured again. Had I not needed the last surgery, I would have hoped to have been back in the nets by now, so doing this show and meeting and getting to know these new people has helped distract me from that.
I was due to head back to Dubai this week to start back in the gym, but my plans changed following a conversation I had with Dave ‘Rooster’ Roberts, who has played a major role in all of my rehabilitation programmes during my career. He is helping out with Lawrence Dallaglio’s cycle slam, which involves him cycling between all the Six Nations venues to raise funds for Sport Relief and Lawrence’s Foundation.
Rooster suggested I join them for next week’s challenge, which is riding from Twickenham to Dublin, starting on Sunday. It’s going to be a hard slog, but I’m hoping it will kick-start my training programme. I’ve never done anything like this before, although I was doing about 60-70km per session on the bike in the gym before my last surgery, but I’m expecting it to be fairly tough. If nothing else, the days I’m cycling should help me loose a bit of the weight I’ve put on since the operation through not being able to go to the gym.
In addition to helping out Lawrence with his fund-raising activities, I have also been over to Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool for a further meeting about the child rehabilitation unit we are planning to build through the AF Foundation. We have been raising funds for the last year and other events are coming up soon, which we hope will enable us to build a state-of-the art unit by the end of this year.
A lot of people have been asking me when and where the Foundation events will be this year and all I can ask is for them to be patient. We hope to be in a position to announce a few dates and venues in the next couple of weeks so watch this space.
