“It’s certainly nice to be back in the squad, first time in a wee while, so excited about that,” he said. “It’s been nice, the journey through club cricket and the process of coming back. Nice to tick off a couple of milestones, and to have another one today [after being selected for the Test squad].”
“[I’ve gone through] probably a whole range of emotions,” he said. “You go through the initial frustration of the injury, you have a little bit of time at home and it’s not too bad, then you see the boys playing on TV and you want to be out there. So a whole range of emotions, but right from early on I wanted to treat the process as more of a blessing than a hindrance and try to focus on what I was gaining from this time, six, seven months or whatever it’s been. Try to focus my energy in that sort of way, and obviously nice to be back.
“The nature of the schedule these days, we play so much cricket, and it had been two, two-and-a-half years straight for me. So to have an extended period at home as been nice, certainly feeling fresh, energised, both mentally and physically. So looking forward to taking this next step.”
Jamieson to play in England warm-up match
Jamieson played two T20s and two List A games in domestic cricket for Auckland last month, and will take the next step towards a comeback when playing for a New Zealand XI against the tourists in Hamilton ahead of the first Test, a day-night game in Mount Mauganui starting on February 16.
New Zealand will be without Trent Boult for the series, but while Jamieson said he had been building up his workloads bowling in the nets, Gary Stead, New Zealand’s head coach, indicated that he was only likely to play one Test against England, with a view to managing his availability through the year.
“Feeling good, bowled a huge amount of overs,” Jamieson said. “Not so much in games but I’ve been bowling since the start of November time, so there’s a decent workload under my belt. It’s just another step on the journey, how we manage these next couple of weeks will be an ongoing discussion.”
Jamieson was involved in two of those three Tests, and was keen to tussle with Stokes’ side again. “Certainly going pretty good, aren’t they? It’s been entertaining to watch them change the way they play their cricket. As a fan of the game, it’s just exciting to watch. It’ll be nice to see it again, up close and personal, in a couple of weeks’ time, but it’s been great for the game.”