It's little wonder Victorian all-rounder John Hastings is looking forward to the off-season break.
The burly 24-year-old achieved the rare feat this summer of playing every single domestic match for the Bushrangers – 29 in all – as well as the Prime Minister’s XI match against the West Indies.
While he admitted there were times he could have missed the odd match to give his aching body a well-earned rest, Hastings said the support structure afforded to him by his state enabled him to partake in each of Victoria’s battles this campaign.
“Full credit to David Bailey our fitness co-ordinator and Tihan (Chandramohan) our physio and (coach) Greg Shipperd and (assistant coach) Simon Helmot for just saying, ‘we need you in the side, keep playing',” Hastings said.
“The support around me within the group, I've got some fantastic friends in here ... you spend eight months of the year training together and playing together they almost become brothers.”
“They rallied around me and the coaching staff gave me a lot of confidence to firstly pick me and then have the confidence to keep picking me to perform well.”
Hastings was the joint-leading domestic wicket-taker for 2009/10 with a total of 65 scalps at 26.35 and hit 605 runs at 27.50.
But a glittering campaign which also saw him involved in Sheffield Shield and Twenty20 Big Bash triumphs as well as being named the Young Cricketer of the Year has come at a price for the talented Bushranger.
He revealed he required a cortisone injection in his right shoulder, which has previously been reconstructed, and no less than four cortisone injections in his left ankle to get through the season.
Scans in the next few weeks will determine the extent of the damage to both joints.
And even though he admitted to feeling physically and mentally drained at times this summer, the fear of losing his spot in Victoria’s XI spurred Hastings on to play through pain.
“To go out there and play four days and then have two days off and play another four-dayer, it's a very hard thing to back up mentally but physically as well,” Hastings said.
“Especially at the backend of a season, we had three or four back-to-back Shield games in a row including the final.”
“(But) you work so hard to get an opportunity to get a place in the side, to give a sucker an even crack is just not what I wanted to do.”
“I didn't want to give one of my other guys in the squad a chance to overlap me I guess.”
And after such a dominant breakthrough season, Hastings has his sights on breaking into the Australian team.
“Recognition in the 30-man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup was nice,” he said.
“(I) don't ever expect to get picked in the 15 but just that recognition to be in the 30, you’re thereabouts and if you can keep pushing to next year then that’s exactly what I’m going to try and do.”