JAMES Harris admits that the gruelling Australian summer is providing the perfect work-out as he bids to put his injury woes of recent years behind him.

The 23-year-old seamer is Down Under as part of the England Performance Programme, shadowing the Test squad during the Ashes.

The former Glamorgan man endured a tough summer this year with new county Middlesex as a number of injuries saw him in and out of the side.

But after the boost of being included on the EPP, Harris is confident that his injury hell is soon to be a thing of the past.

And it would appear that the form that saw him included in England’s New Zealand tour party last Christmas is finally returning after he took 3-58 on the opening day of their tour match against Western Australia 2nd XI this week.

The Welshman is working on a remodelled action that should prevent further injury trouble and it would appear that the hard work is paying off.

“It has been a lot of hard work and it’s finally starting to come good,” he said.

“We did some great work in Brisbane and I was bowling OK but I would have liked to have gone a bit better.

“But my control in the second innings was good, and in Perth I had my best day yet where I really felt I had made a breakthrough and it all clicked.

“I feel in a pretty good place, we are working to prevent these injuries that have really been letting me down over the last couple of years.

“That has meant I have not really been able to show any form of my own but the body feels good.

“We have had some of the most gruelling fitness sessions the guys have ever done in Brisbane.”

While in Brisbane Harris went over to the Gabba to bowl at the England Test side in the nets, an invaluable experience that the seamer thrived on.

And with a potential England Lions tour to Sri Lanka to aim at after Christmas, Harris admits his hunger for the international game is as strong as it has ever been.

“Bowling at the Gabba was great, to see the guys and get involved was superb,” he added.

“But this is mostly about getting on with your own stuff, getting into the nets and working on your own little things.

“I have got to try and find a way to bowl well in all conditions.

“With a potential Lions tour to Sri Lanka, the more you can diversify that experience, even some things we tried because that is how I am going to make that next step.”

Follow the England Performance Programme squad and their progress this winter at www.ecb.co.uk/epp