Kent batsman Daniel Bell-Drummond is hoping recent ankle surgery will enable him to be more of an asset to the team in the long term.

The 19 year old England Under 19 international underwent surgery on an ankle problem that has plagued him for the past couple of years, preventing from being able to bowl.

Known for his batting, Bell-Drummond forced his way into the Kent side as they lost to Glamorgan in their final County Championship fixture of the season at Cardiff in September.

Having impressed against the touring South African side earlier in the summer, Bell-Drummond scored 88 for the Second XI against Leicestershire as they won the County Championship at the start of September.

With a winter of rest and rehabilitation planned for the talented batsman, Bell-Drummond told KSN how he plans to spend the next few months and the reason behind his surgery:

“I have started my rehab progamme and hopefully I will get the rewards of all the boring stuff by getting my ankle better.”

“There is an extra bone in my ankle, which apparently about 10% of people have and it was only hurting when I was bowling, so I could do everything else fine, but the slamming down and the impact when bowling and the placing of my left foot when batting was giving me pain.”

“It’s been giving me a problem for the past two to three years, so this was the first real opportunity to get it sorted.”

“I’m using Nimmo’s new piece of kit at the ground that allows you to run or walk at about 60 – 80% of your bodyweight. I even started off at 40% and I have been building it up gradually.”

“It’s good beacuse you can walk and jog without putting your body through the same pressures you would if you’d run normally.”

Bell-Drummond has also been taking advantage of using the accommodation normally used by bowler Charlie Shreck above the Sainsbury’s store at the St Lawrence Ground, making it easier to get into training day.

Once his ankle is fully healed, Bell-Drummond told KSN how he is hoping to get away this winter to get some cricket under his belt:

“I’m looking to get abroad as that would be the ideal thing for me to do. I haven’t decided on where yet, although going to the sub-continent and doing a training camp in India is one of my choices.”

Although having broken into the first eleven at the end of last season, Bell-Drummond now has his eyes firmly set on securing a place in Jimmy Adams’ side on a regular basis.

He said: “I enjoyed playing for England Under 19’s but it is good to come out the other end as my main aim is staking a claim in the Kent first team.”

“Hopefully I can push on and score lots of runs next year and nail a spot down.”

“It’s great people are tipping me to be one for the future, but I just need to make sure I am working hard every day and make sure I am getting closer to reaching my goals and one of those is to play for England.”

Drawing on the experience around him at Kent, citing the likes of Rob Key and Geraint Jones as inspirations, Bell-Drummond is pleased the squad is settled for next year:

“I didn’t play much for the first team this year, but hearing from the guys they were disappointed they didn’t get promoted.”

“They improved so much from 2011, so it shows the hunger everyone has to do well. With everyone now signed on, it can only be positive going into next year.”

Picture supplied by Sarah Ansell. To see more of Sarah’s pictures visit www.sarahcanterbury.com