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Ryan-bound for India

Image: Sidebottom: Getting fit

In his latest skysports.com blog, Ryan Sidebottom is looking forward to getting some shut-eye!

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Sidebottom on the road to fitness for one-day series

Well, we've just landed at Heathrow from the Caribbean and are spending the day here before travelling on to the sub-continent for our widely anticipated tour of India. Although you don't do much when you're travelling, I'm shattered already! We've got another 12 hours of this trek to go and will land in India in the afternoon their time. Once we get to the hotel, it will probably be a case of a pool session and then some rest and a decent night's sleep. The last two months have been very frustrating as I've not been able to get onto the field. I've been well looked after by both the England and Notts physios and have worked extremely hard on my fitness losing around seven or eight kilos. I felt in top shape and loved getting back into it when we arrived in Antigua last week. I was running in to bowl and feeling fine, but then my calf went. Sometimes these things happen when bowlers are coming back from injury and it's kind of a case of getting bowling fit now. I'm walking better than I was a couple of days ago and although it was frustrating and disappointing, I'm just desperate to get fit once again to be considered for selection. You might have heard about the trip I was out on in the Caribbean - the Stanford 20/20 for $20 million dollars? Yep, thought so! To be honest the whole experience was a bit of a weird one. I wouldn't say we were particularly distracted as it was an England game and also there was a heck of a lot of money on offer. I know we were definitely up for it but the Superstars played brilliantly and they thrashed us - as simple as that. It was a great experience for us to play for that kind of money and winning the game would certainly have been life changing. You could pay off your mortgage, sort out your family - it would certainly have a big impact on your life. I'm sure next year we'll be better prepared for what to expect. It's a great competition and we certainly don't want the Superstars winning the series five nil - we'll be up for it! But for now, it's all about India and I can't wait to get on the field again and get some overs into my body! Take care, Ryan

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