Joel Paris has adjusted his run up as he eyes a return for WA in Tuesday’s one-day final.
Paris took seven wickets, including 5-44 in the first innings, bowling 28 overs across three days in WA’s second XI win over Tasmania this week.
It was the first time Paris has bowled in a match since he injured his hamstring in WA’s Sheffield Shield match against Tasmania in October.
Paris has not played a one-day game for WA since 2018 due to a series of quad and back injuries, but he was named in the Marsh Cup squad this season before his injury setback.
The classy left-armer had never done a hamstring before last month.
Further investigation revealed Paris had been running harder than normal in that Shield match.
“It was very frustrating,” Paris told SportFM. “It came out of the blue. I can tick that one off the list.
“The GPS data that we get from the games and go through at the end of each game, my run up speed over that spell that I was bowling and I did get injured, my running speed was a lot higher than it normally is. It’s a really good learning curve for me.”
Paris had a solid build up before the match against Tasmania.
“I’ve had probably three or four weeks in the nets,” he said. “Your first outing in a game it’s always a little bit tricky to see how you’re going from a rhythm perspective.
“That was sort of one of the goals that I wanted to really nail down and achieve in the game was to find myself back into some nice rhythm. Luckily enough I was able to find that really quickly.
“To get through almost 30 overs over the three days was great for me and I really enjoyed the return. I’ve done a fair bit of work in the nets over the last month to get me into a situation where I could go into the game without any restrictions. It worked out perfectly. I’m really happy to be back and playing some cricket.”
Paris’ trial of a new-look run up was a success.
“From a total run up distance perspective, from starting to run in to follow through was about 30m and I have brought that in to about 20m,” Paris said. “So that is 10 less metres that I have got to cover a ball and like I said, if you sort of work that up over a 30-over game you are going to put a significant less amount of stress on the body. The one thing that we weren’t sure about is how the ball would come out over a shorter run up, and pace and everything. I was really happy with how it went.
“Speaking to the guys behind the wicket in the keeper and the slips, they sort said it came out as good as it has been for the last 12 months from my perspective.”
Paris said he would put his hand up for a return in Tuesday’s one-day final against Queensland as well as the Shield game against South Australia at the WACA Ground starting next Friday.
“Whatever way that goes I am not sure,” he said.
“If I am not travelling to Brisbane in the one-day side, I will certainly be looking to be ready to go next Friday against Adelaide in Perth. To be in another final for white ball cricket is fantastic. The boys are really hungry to go one better and get some more silverware for WA.”
Sam Whiteman made a quick-fire 46 as he captained the second XI against Tasmania.