Fit again Olivier ready to roll

A right hip flexor muscle injury didn't just slow down Duanne Oliver, it brought him to a grinding halt in August on the Proteas' tour of England.

Now Olivier says he is ready to get his new season going and is tugging at the leash.

“I feel 100% ready,” said Olivier in a familiarly calm, reassuring tone. “It took 10 weeks of hard work. Rehab, stuff like that. It's been frustrating. From a team point of view it has been great because I've spent it here with the team. It is a different story when it comes to game time. You can only put in the hard work,” said the Central Gauteng Lions fast quick.

Fast bowlers are prone to orthopaedic misfortune and time out of the game presents opportunity to reflect, tweak, reshape and improve.

“I've been working on technical things with my bowling,” he explained. “In a way it was good to get the injury but also in a way sad. It gave me opportunity to work on my bowling technique. I felt I lacked a bit and maybe creating bad habits for myself.

“I've been working on that extensively and just taking pressure off my action and my back.”

Olivier explained on the pacy, bouncier Wanderers surface he tries to bowl fuller but that he needs to do so at speed.

“Maybe that is something I lacked. I lost a bit of pace due to a technical fault in my action and it has been rectified. Hopefully I can get it (pace) back,” he said with a mischievous grin.

Bowling at terrifying pace has been the currency Olivier has traded in for much of his career. Batters find him a pain in the neck and for much of his time in the Proteas set-up it's been argued he only needs to bowl two lengths near opposite sides of the strip to be successful.

“There isn't always the right way,” he keenly pointed out. “At that stage the team required me to do that. As a player you want to grow and develop different skills so you have that in the locker.

“It is a team sport and it is really about what they demand in a particular situation.”

At 30 Olivier may be a wily and wiser player but it doesn't mean he has lost any of his mongrel instincts. That is not good news for any visiting batters to the Wanderers. With Kagiso Rabada, Lutho Sipamla, Sisanda Magala and Wiaan Mulder also part of the attack the Lions, when they have all hands on deck, batters are unlikely to find the Wanderers a welcoming environment.

“At the end of the day you want to win trophies because you get measured by that. We care about each other. This is my second season at the Lions and it has more of a family feel and that is important to me because it can take you a long way. It was always a dream for me to play here. I enjoy playing here. I think it is the best stadium in the country.”

How he performs in the coming weeks and months will determine his national team prospects, not that, that is front of mind for the gangly bowler.

“There is a Test series in Australia and then the West Indies come here,” he said while staring out across the playing surface at the Bullring. “You think about those things but for now I need to do well for the Lions. I am very simple in my approach. I take it day by day. You need to take care of your performances first. I try not to look too far ahead. I made that mistake before.”

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