Redbacks paceman Daniel Worrall is star pupil of fitness guru Stephen Schwerdt
SOUTH Australian paceman Daniel Worrall has stunned fitness guru and former Adelaide Crow Stephen Schwerdt, who has lauded his preseason as one of the better efforts he has seen from an athlete.
THEY’VE morphed from cruisers to commandos with Redbacks speedster Daniel Worrall the poster boy for four torturous pre-seasons under fitness guru Stephen Schwerdt.
South Australian high performance manager Tim Nielsen poached Schwerdt from Gold Coast Suns in May 2015 shortly before Jamie Siddons’ appointment as Redbacks head coach.
If South Australia wasn’t going to lift silverware it would be the nation’s fittest first-class unit with Schwerdt cracking the whip. The Redbacks had carried the wooden spoon five times in six Sheffield Shield seasons to 2014-15.
“This is my fourth pre-season. Some of the stuff we did in the first year or two was about mindset, training habits and developing a culture of how we train,” said Schwerdt, who smashed the Redbacks with Mount Lofty hikes, strength, conditioning, running and recovery drills on arrival at Adelaide Oval.
“For me that is not an issue now.”
Schwerdt’s whip has become superfluous.
The Redbacks’ reported for their first outdoor trial of the season at Adelaide Oval No. 2 on Monday having slashed minutes off the 2km time trial results from 2015 and skin folds.
“I know we set the benchmarks for cricket in Australia in a lot of our physical prep and that is due in no small part to the way our guys do the right things,” said Schwerdt who spent 14 years with Adelaide and Gold Coast before joining SACA.
“It has been quite a transition to see the evolution in our leadership from having to be told to the guys driving the standards.”
Worrall, 27, struggled to back up for second and third spells on first-class debut six years ago. Former Australian one-day paceman Worrall has trained the house down since returning with a foot fracture from County side Gloucestershire in May.
“He has attacked his training like I have never seen anyone. His body shape and commitment to the physical preparation has been unbelievable,” said Schwerdt of Worrall, a rare swing bowler who operates at 140 clicks.
“It is one of the better efforts over a two-month period I have seen from an athlete and that includes footy and cricket. He has put his nose to the grind stone and worked unbelievably hard. Hopefully that translates to good performance.”
The Redbacks will step up trial games in Perth to acclimatise ahead of opening JLT Cup one-day games on September 20 against New South Wales and Western Australia on September 22.
Schwerdt reported “no issues” with Test swingman Chadd Sayers’ recovery from knee surgery. Siddons will call on a full strength JLT Cup attack including Worrall, Kane Richardson, Joe Mennie, Nick Winter and Cam Valente.
Former Test pair Callum Ferguson and Joe Mennie are completing County stints in England. Skipper Travis Head and keeper Alex Carey are on Australia A duty in India while Tom Cooper and Adam Zampa are featuring in the Caribbean Premier League.