JOSH Poysden will be back on a cricket field next week for the first time since suffering a fractured skull in training in late July.

The Yorkshire leg-spinner is heading to Christchurch, New Zealand, to play club cricket either side of Christmas.

That was always the plan, even before he suffered a freak injury while throwing balls at Dom Bess in the Emerald Headingley indoor nets whilst preparing for a Vitality Blast fixture.

But his injury obviously altered plans, meaning he is heading for the sunshine later than planned.

The 28-year-old, who flies out to New Zealand’s South Island tonight, said: "I’m going to play for Burnside West Christchurch University,” he said.

“I’ve never been to New Zealand before, so I’m really looking forward to it.

“From a cricket point of view, as a spinner, I think it’s massive to go away and bowl those match overs when you can and to train outside. That’s going to be really good.

“I’ll be playing a mixture of two-day cricket, and I think there’s some T20 cricket as well.

“Hopefully I can go and net bowl at the Canterbury team - all the things I’ve done when I’ve been away in Sydney previously.

“There will be some different voices to speak to, and hopefully I’m going to catch up with my old team-mate at Warwickshire, Jeetan Patel, and do some work with him.”

Poysden played in the opening game of last season’s Blast before being struck and spending time in hospital. Part of his recovery was three months complete rest - no fitness work or cricket work.

He returned to training at Emerald Headingley at the start of the month, two weeks earlier than his team-mates.

“Pre-season’s been good,” he said. “We’ve been back in as a squad for just over a week now.

“On a personal note, I came in a couple of weeks earlier than everyone else just to get started because I’m going away. I just wanted a month’s block to get back into cricket after not playing for a while.

“I also wanted to do some technical work before going away and playing some games.

“It’s been really good, working with all the coaches again.

“Ian Dews, in particular, has come in a lot when it’s been his time off really. It’s been good to do some technical work on both my bowling and batting.

“It’s been really nice to get back into it, and I feel fresh. I’m enjoying getting back into cricket.

“I was always going to go away this winter, but after getting injured I had to put that back a little bit to make sure I could ease into things at Headingley in a more controlled environment.

“Again, that’s why I started a couple of weeks early to get my volume of overs up and build back into it. Now, I’m ready to go away.”

The former Warwickshire spinner says he has not set any personal targets next year wickets wise, with his main goal just to “enjoy” his cricket.

But he is confident Yorkshire can achieve their team goal of silverware, adding: “Last year, we’d just played the first T20 when I decided to head one! It would be really nice to be fit for the whole year.

“If you look at the make-up of our squad, it’s really exciting in all formats this year.

“I feel like we have a very balanced squad with a lot of depth.”