Monde Zondeki heads for Gary Kirsten's high-performance centre for a fast bowlers course in a week's time determined to recapture his ability to swing the ball.
The Proteas paceman clocked into town on Thursday for the start of Western Province-Boland's pre-season training, being the major recruit for the Western Cape franchise.
"I used to swing the ball nicely, but I seem to have lost it over the course of the past year," he said.
"It may have been because I was sub-consciously trying to protect certain parts of my body that have given me injury problems recently.
"I don't think I have been getting my wrist properly behind the ball," he explained on Thursday. "It has tended to slide down the side and propel the ball down the leg-side. I have also developed a habit of jumping sideways in the delivery stride, which is something I never used to do."
It may seem that Zondeki is being hyper-critical of himself considering he has played in four of the past five Protea Tests against Zimbabwe and the West Indies and taken 16 wickets in the process on some pretty unresponsive surfaces most of the time.
But he knows what a hard task lies ahead of him if he wants to become a first-choice for the Protea XI in either the five-day or the one-day game. The competition for places is intense against the likes of Makhaya Ntini, Shaun Pollock, André Nel and Charl Langeveldt, most of whom are busy putting injuries behind them during the off-season and will come back as stronger performers.
"I have got to match the skill levels of the likes of Ntini, Pollock and Nel," Zondeki said.
There are also emerging youngsters coming into contention such as Dale Steyn, who is currently gaining invaluable experience with Essex in the England county championship, bowling in tandem with Darren Gough and New Zealand international Andre Adams.
"The competition is tough," admitted Zondeki. "But that is the way I want it. I don't want to get into the side simply because somebody else is injured."
He also knows there is the incentive of an opening test against Australia on the super-bouncy Perth wicket. "The selectors will probably want to send more fast bowlers out there than they might normally do. I was also very encouraged by the fact that, when Pollock was injured and missed most of the tests in the West Indies, they went for me as a specialist bowler rather than selecting another all-rounder," added Zondeki.
If Zondeki is concerned about his lack of swing over the past year, he does not have any doubts about his ability to bowl fast. "I am very happy with that department of my game. I was told that I clocked 150km/h (the defining line for the handful of bowlers who are quicker than the rest) in the West Indies, but I felt I bowled consistently quicker in a spell I had for the Warriors against WP-Boland at Newlands last season when there wasn't a speed gun."
On those grounds alone he is very happy to be making his new home in Cape Town. "It was my aunt (Pam Tshwete, widow of the late cabinet minister Steve Tshwete), who encouraged me to move down here and I thought it would be a good idea as I have had a lot of injury problems and being near the Sports Science Institute is a good thing.
"I am struggling at the moment with a bit of a bruise behind my knee, but at least I have put behind me the leg injury that put me out of action for the best part of a season. I hurt the knee when I took that tumble in my comeback international against Zimbabwe in Port Elizabeth and I didn't get a chance to rest it thereafter.
"That tumble was a bit embarrassing. Everybody is watching your first ball back in international cricket and then to do something like that!"
WP-Boland's only injury concern at the moment is Rory Kleinveldt, who has had to undergo an operation to have a pin put in his left shoulder after dislocating it on numerous occasions. But he should be fit in time for the serious build-up in August and September.