GRAHAM Napier is confident he is fully recovered from injury after starting his first four-day game for Essex in a year.

Napier, 31, suffered a double stress fracture to his back last season. He returned to the Essex side but has been restricted to one-day appearances until he started his first Championship match of the year at Surrey yesterday.

Napier said: “It has been a long road to get here. It’s been 12 months since I last played a four-day game and I’m enjoying every moment.

“My back is fit and strong. I had a bit of a scare on our pre-season tour to Barbados when I slipped on a greasy surface.

“The fall jarred my back and you begin to panic after going through something like I have, but the surgeon looked at it and said everything was fine.

“But all the conditioning work I did over the winter has been paying off and I feel really fit again.

“I feel I’m operating back at 100 per cent again.”

Napier is also warning people not to write off Essex’s Championship campaign yet, despite a start to the season which has yielded just one win.