Let's bury ghost of Edgbaston
By Glenn McGrath
Australia fast bowler
December 01, 2006
I OFTEN feel that unless you cut off my leg, no injury is going to stop me from playing for Australia.
But sometimes medical staff have to save me from myself because if it was up to me I'd always play.
I will be totally honest with our medical men this morning because I feel I know what I can handle.
I am confident of playing despite the bruised heel but I am not over the line yet.
The questions we have to answer are: Can I get through the game? And if I get through it am I going to jeopardise the rest of the season?
As much as I am desperate to play - the last thing I want is a re-run of Edgbaston - it does cross your mind that the last thing the side needs is for me to go into the game and struggle, and for that to have a negative effect on the team.
Of all the injuries I have been through in my career, the heel injury I suffered in Brisbane was probably one of the least serious.
Yet it was easily the most painful thing I have tried to bowl through.
More painful than ankle spurs - including one snapping off - and bowling with a 7cm tear in a stomach muscle one Test in Sydney.
I was a bit nervous at times at yesterday's training session, particularly in my first bowl when things just didn't feel right.
But we decided to tape my ankle, and I felt like a new man. It gave me a lot of confidence.
We taped a fat pad underneath the ankle and it made the world of difference. I felt like I could easily get through the game.
I'm sure if I play there will be a little bit of pain in my heel and ankle, but bowling is a funny thing; somehow you learn to switch off bowling through pain.
Most bowlers get through pain well.
It's the nature of the beast and part of our job and something that's convinced me batsmen get it too easy in all aspects of the game.
The pain I would experience with the heel is something I have dealt with throughout my entire career.
When my ankle was at its worst in Darwin a few years ago, I could bowl but I could hardly walk between overs.
But it's amazing how you just switch off and run in and bowl. Because you are concentrating on so many other things you tend to ignore the pain.
I've been pretty lucky in my career to be niggle-free 95 per cent of the time. The ankle and heel problems I have are always there but I almost don't put them in the pain class. They're just part of bowling.
Obviously, if I can't walk in the morning I will be in trouble.
But if I feel how I feel as I am writing this column, I'm confident.
If the ankle feels the same bowling in the nets as it does now, hopefully I can go out and bury the ghosts of Edgbaston.
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,20849066-5009880,00.html
