Injury Frustration
Sidebottom - a tad frustrated.
Ryan Sidebottom opens up about his fitness problems.
Well it's been a tough time for me. Thanks to niggling injuries, I missed the Test win at the Oval under our new captain. KP (Kevin Pietersen) is a different character to Vaughany - I guess that goes without saying!
He's certainly very passionate and has his own ideas. His commitment is second to none and KP is desperate for England to become the number one side in the world in all forms of cricket. He is a very positive character and this rubs off on the dressing room.
Its very new, refreshing and good fun to be around.
On a personal note, I'm working hard to get fully fit and ensure the body is in good shape. I've been doing plenty of strength work and am hoping to get my hip and neck right.
I've just done a fitness test and will see how I pull up in the morning. Hopefully, I'll rejoin the squad this week.
I guess my injury problems have resulted from a long but enjoyable 15 months of international cricket and I suppose the odd injury is bound to happen.
I just want to be fully fit and I've probably not felt 100 percent all year. I've been happy with the way I've performed but just haven't been quite been firing on all cylinders.
It's been pretty frustrating. Being a regular in the England team has been brilliant but it's not much fun being on the sidelines.
You want to see your fellow bowlers to be going well - like Jimmy Anderson who has performed consistently and has fully deserved the wickets he has got. But you also tend to wonder how you would have done in those situations.
Looking ahead to this one-day series, we all know that South Africa will be a very tough challenge.
They are number one in the world and we will be able to gauge where we are at come September.
Our one-day cricket has shown signs of improvement over the past 18 months and we will be going all out to maintain this trend. This will be a huge test against a side that have played some fantastic cricket, but don't write us off. It should be a great series.