All-rounder Samit Patel could be England's ace in the pack when they go to India after vowing he is now a changed man.
Nottinghamshire star knows he cannot afford more mistakes
All-rounder Samit Patel could be England's ace in the pack when they go to India after vowing he is now a changed man.
The 26-year-old Nottinghamshire player was ignored by England for over two years with selectors critical of his fitness levels and - perhaps more importantly - doubts about his willingness to address the situation.
But Patel, whose left-arm spin and middle-order batting may be just the ticket in five ODIs and a Twenty20 game on slow surfaces over the next four weeks, was always optimistic he would return to represent his country again - once the penny dropped about his conditioning.
"If I did the right stuff I was very confident of getting back and I had good vibes from the management," he said. "I knew my cricket wasn't the issue, it was the other stuff."
Complacent
However, Patel cannot afford to be complacent in an era when coach Andy Flower makes self-improvement a constant pre-requisite for any England player.
"It's a big one really," Patel added. "To be willing to do the work and show the attitude to do it was a big thing for me.
"I hope I've overcome that now ... not fully yet. It doesn't change overnight, there is a long way to go."
Among Patel's regrets is that he did not do quite enough in time to join England at the World Cup in India earlier this year.
"It was huge, very disappointing," he added. "The fact that I should have been there was so disappointing. But I can't blame anyone else but myself."
The solution came via an apparently tardy realisation, and then a resolve to keep doing the right thing.
"It's a combination (of things), training harder, doing the hours," he added. "The willingness to train was probably one of the issues, but attitude-wise I'm back on track and going in the right direction."
Motivation
Patel accepts the motivation has to be his, not forced on him by others, adding: "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. But things are going quite well.
"I've lost a bit of weight and attitude-wise, training is the big one for the ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board] and England, the willingness to do the work
"Maybe I didn't show that but now I'm doing it.
"They always kept me in the loop and told me what to do. They wouldn't have picked me in the summer otherwise."