Tudor's debt to super doc who saved his career

Tudor has been to Dr Wohlfahrt's clinic about "five or six" times over the winter and has been astonished at how the pain has eased in his back.

He admits Dr Wohlfahrt uses the controversial blood spinning technique practised by doctors at Chelsea to get their players fitter quicker. The World Anti Doping Agency is to investigate the process to see if it is unlawful.

He said: "With me, he extracts blood from my own body, it goes away to a clinic to be cleaned and then it goes back into my body. I don't know the exact science of it but it seems to work.

"He says I don't have to go so often now because it's getting better. Muller is a freak of nature. He is a genius. He is the Bayern Munich doctor and never runs on the pitch with equipment. He just closes his eyes, feels the injury and diagnoses it."

His outlook now is in stark contrast to the misery of last autumn when Surrey finally gave up hope on Tudor.

If the county that had nurtured and persevered with him were so keen to get rid that they agreed to pay up the final year of his contract - worth £70,000 - what hope was there?

Tudor recalls how he was facing up to a life out of county cricket until he got a phone call from Irani.

"Ronnie said, 'I will get you fit, I got [Darren] Goughy fit and I'll do the same for you'," Tudor said. "I was hearing from other counties but to get fit was the most important thing."

Until last September, when a surgeon diagnosed problems with the collagen in his spine, nobody could discover the reason for the pain in his back. MRI scans showed no problems and the Surrey coaches were frustrated that Tudor was still on the sidelines.

"I didn't see a specialist in all that time," said the seam bowler. "That was the problem. I was bowling a couple of overs and going into spasm. I would see the physio and have a rest but I knew I definitely had something wrong with me and it's pretty disappointing that it had taken so long to find out."

Tudor has built up his fitness over the winter, graduating from speedwalking to cycling and then building up his strength in the gym with light weights. Has he started bowling yet?

"Very gingerly in the nets," replied Tudor. "My fitness guy said, 'As long as you don't bowl too many balls to start off with you should be okay'."

As a veteran of aborted comebacks, the fast bowler is reluctant to put a date on when he will make his competitive debut for his new county.

"I'm sensible and so are the club," he said. "If I don't quite make the first game of the season, I don't. It's a long season. Everything is on schedule at the moment. The experts say the back will heal itself. They are confident and I am confident. Once I get out there, the rest will take care of itself. My record suggests I will take wickets."