Concern for the injured Mark Boucher
I wish I had some way of communicating with Mark Boucher after his severe eye injury – but this will have to do.
I have admired his fine qualities as a cricketer and In cricket you can be sure that the man on the field will be the same when he changes out of his whites.
I wish him all the very best in his initial recovery and then, of course, in whatever role he is able to play for the rest of his life.
By a weird coincidence I bumped into Paul Downton only weeks ago at Lord's not knowing that he had suffered a similar injury with a bail flipping into his eye.
Strange too that I attended the dinner in memory of Tiger Pataudi in the same week bringing back vivid memories of his batting with only partial sight in one eye.
The story goes that when asked at what moment after his car accident he believed he could still get runs at Test level – his answer was “when I saw the England bowling”.
I also saw Colin Milburn making a brave attempt to bat again after losing an eye but his impairment turned out to be altogether too severe.
There seems to be no ready answer to the matter of providing protection against the flying bail – unless it is a full face plastic shield. Maybe worth a try at least.
None of this reminiscing and conjecture will be of any comfort to Mark Boucher, of course. But at least he should know that he has hosts of admirers and well-wishers at this very difficult period of his life.
I have admired his fine qualities as a cricketer and In cricket you can be sure that the man on the field will be the same when he changes out of his whites.
I wish him all the very best in his initial recovery and then, of course, in whatever role he is able to play for the rest of his life.
By a weird coincidence I bumped into Paul Downton only weeks ago at Lord's not knowing that he had suffered a similar injury with a bail flipping into his eye.
Strange too that I attended the dinner in memory of Tiger Pataudi in the same week bringing back vivid memories of his batting with only partial sight in one eye.
The story goes that when asked at what moment after his car accident he believed he could still get runs at Test level – his answer was “when I saw the England bowling”.
I also saw Colin Milburn making a brave attempt to bat again after losing an eye but his impairment turned out to be altogether too severe.
There seems to be no ready answer to the matter of providing protection against the flying bail – unless it is a full face plastic shield. Maybe worth a try at least.
None of this reminiscing and conjecture will be of any comfort to Mark Boucher, of course. But at least he should know that he has hosts of admirers and well-wishers at this very difficult period of his life.