‘This has been my hardest injury to deal with’ – Southern Vipers skipper Georgia Adams

The Southern Vipers skipper has found it very tough with restrictions, but says it will be amazing when they are lifted.

Adams, after a sensational season which culminated with a full ECB domestic contract, had shoulder surgery over the winter which has also been tough to deal with.

But with the vaccine being rolled out, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Adams said: ‘Lockdown is tough, I am a huge extrovert so I love being out and about and around people so it’s been hard at times to stay motivated.

‘A lot of home workouts and inventive gym exercises have been done, and time spent with the squad on zoom doing quizzes so we keep some form of interaction going.

‘However I’m very conscious that for us all to make it through this situation we need to be sensible and do the right thing by the NHS and all the vulnerable people out there.

‘It’s going to feel amazing when we get back to some form of normality and can see friends and family properly again.’

Adams led from the front as the Vipers lifted the Rachael Heyhoe-Flint Trophy in 2020. She was the tournament’s leading runscorer with 500 at 83.3, including a tournament best 154 not out against Western Storm at The Ageas Bowl.

The surgery Adams had this winter was to fix a problem she had suffered from for a while.

The 27-year-old said: ‘I had shoulder surgery in November for a tear that I’ve tried to play through for the last few years.

‘Weirdly I managed to injure my non dominant shoulder so I tried to get by just rehabbing with the physio the last couple of years, but it started to really play up when I was batting... so with the Covid situation we thought this was a prime opportunity to finally put it right.

‘Recovery has been going really well, I must admit it has been a lot more painful than I was anticipating but I’m hoping to be back batting next week.

‘Any injury is mentally very tough, I think this one particularly has been the hardest for me as it would be my first full winter on an elite professional program.

‘I’ve found that setting myself weekly small goals gets me through easier and ticking off small targets as rewards rather than just focusing on being back to cricket.

‘I fixated massively on picking up a bat again at the start and time just felt like it was going so slow.

‘But I’m staying really busy and throwing myself into as much gym and strength work I can do but it’s definitely fair to say I’ve had great days and some very low days throughout.’