Injury nightmare over for new Thunder man Baxter Holt ahead of Big Bash season

That's what spending three years battling a debilitating back injury does for your counting capacity, especially as a wicketkeeper.

As Holt puts it, he does 120 squats per day every time he plays a Twenty20. That jumps to 300 for a 50-over match, and 600 when playing for NSW in the Sheffield Shield.

But those numbers only scratch the surface.

There's also tearing his hamstring four times in 12 months, or playing just six cricket matches last summer as opposed to the 57 he notched the season prior.

That's what happens when you wake up every 45 minutes in agony at night, despite taking five painkillers every day.

Holt's nightmare injury run began almost three years ago, when those frequent hamstring tears prompted a back scan and the discovery of a bulging disc.

He tried ignoring it for 18 months before playing a tour match against Pakistan when he went down for one of those wicketkeeping squats and could barely stand back up.

"It was a CA game against Bankstown last October and I couldn't get out of my squat, and I was like 'That's me done'," Holt said.

"I have to do whatever I have to do to get this right. If I don't play another game this season then I don't really care, I've just got to get it better.

"I ended up getting up, kept the rest of the innings and I walked off and I was like 'Doc, I'm finished here, [there's] too much pain to try and cope with any more, the meds aren't doing anything, the only way we can fix this is through other options'."

During that 18 months of ignoring the pain, Holt made his Shield debut and also played a season with the Thunder.

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He was booked in for a microdisectomy last December to shave off some of his bulging disc and release pressure on the nerve, before internationally renowned back physiotherapist Peter O'Sullivan suggested another treatment method.

"Because I'd played in pain so long all my muscles had completely seized up just to try and protect it so I had to spend four months completely relaxing all my core, back, glutes, all my muscles that surround it," O'Sullivan said.

"I had to re-teach myself how to walk, how to stand up and how not to get in the positions that I was for 18 months that caused me so much pain.

"Because of the muscle stuff the operation probably wouldn't have done much and if I did go ahead with it I probably still wouldn't be playing...it was definitely a blessing in disguise that we didn't go that way.

"Every day now I do my morning stretches just to keep it somewhat loose and mobile. Because I've spent four months off I've been very fortunate that it can actually withstand some of the load I put on it now, I've been pushing it a fair bit the last few weeks just to see how it goes and build that confidence.

"I'm really confident it will get through the full season now which is nice."

Holt, who is in Canberra this week representing Sydney Metro against a ACT/NSW Country, will return to Sydney on Thursday before gearing up for the Big Bash tournament which begins next month.

The Thunder will spend their first month based in Canberra.

"It'll be really special to have a month and a bit here and obviously to be able to be supported by the Canberra people, and hopefully see a fair few down at Manuka for the first five games," Holt said.

"Playing for the Thunder two years ago was a great highlight of mine so far. To be able to have that hope given to me by support staff, to show that I'm still good enough to play is a real honour."

A bruising century by Comet Nathan McAndrew helped ACT/NSW Country to a six-wicket win over Metro on Wednesday.

Metro batted first and notched 5-279 before McAndrew's unbeaten 139, and Nicholas Cutler's 94, helped the locals cruise to victory.

Holt managed an unbeaten 17 for Metro and was involved in two stumpings. The teams will play a T20 match on Thursday.