New Zealand fast bowler Neil Wagner has on Saturday (January 2) opened up about his courageous efforts to play with two broken toes and took his team to a dramatic 101-run win over Pakistan in the first Boxing Day Test of the ongoing two-match Test series at Bay Oval.
The veteran pacer's two toes of his right foot were broken after being hit by a Shaheen Afridi yorker in New Zealand's first innings but despite this, he returned to bowl in Pakistan’s both innings and took 4 scalps to help the hosts win the match and take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series.
Recently, Wagner – who was ruled out of the second Test and is likely to return to the action next month, revealed that he could not even walk at the start of the final day of the Boxing Day Test, but a burning desire to help his team pushed him through the pain barrier at Bay Oval.
As reported by Reuters, Wagner told 1 News: “On the last day I couldn't walk getting out of bed. I sort of fell to the ground quite frustrated and quite angry, and just wanted to get out there and play. As I tried to walk, the pain got worse and worse, and I got the frozen vegetables out of the fridge and a couple of icebags and tried to ice it a couple of times.”
The speedster further revealed that he was forced to take multiple injections to try and numb the pain.
He signed off by saying, “About the 12th injection on the day, I started screaming and squealing a bit and biting on the towel. The injections helped for about two hours then you got to try and bite your teeth, grit, and go through it. I kept walking back to my mark saying to myself, 'Just one wicket, just one wicket.' The desire to help the team is just there, you know, and it sort of gets you through it.”
