IT HAS taken fewer than three years since his retirement from rugby union for Jeff Wilson, the former All Black, to win a recall to New Zealand’s one-day international squad, raising the prospect of a remarkable comeback as an international cricketer. Wilson won four caps against Australia in 1993, but was forced to abandon his cricketing ambitions to pursue a rugby career that brought 60 caps as a wing and full back. Now 31, the all-rounder has been selected in New Zealand’s 13-man squad for the first two matches of the five-match one-day series against Australia, which begins on Saturday.
Wilson shocked his country’s rugby-mad public when he hung up his rugby boots in May 2002 at the age of 28, somewhere near the peak of his game. One of the world’s outstanding back-three players, he was a powerful and swift runner with a shock of blond hair who scored 234 points including 44 tries, a tally surpassed only by Christian Cullen. His first season back in first-class cricket with Otago was blighted by injury, but in 2003-04 his medium-pace brought 23 first-class wickets and, in domestic one-day cricket, he averaged 52 with the bat.
When New Zealand played three one-day matches against a World XI last month after the postponement of their series against Sri Lanka, John Bracewell, the coach, included Wilson as an experimental selection. He took three for six in the third of those matches and Bracewell clearly liked what he saw. “Jeff has slotted in very well and probably surprised a few people, especially with his pace,” Bracewell said. “He has given us glimpses of his potential and now he will get the chance to give us an eyeful.”
That potential was first underlined when, as a 19-year-old, Wilson hit an unbeaten 44 off 28 balls to lead his side to victory over Australia in his third one-day international appearance in Hamilton. A few months later, however, rugby came calling and it seemed that cricket had seen the last of a burgeoning talent. But Wilson clearly felt that he had some unfinished business and has wasted little time in bringing his seam bowling and hard-hitting strokeplay to the attention of the selectors. Seldom has the term “all-rounder” been used more appropriately.
30 YEARS OF DUAL INTERNATIONALS
Advertisement
BRIAN McKECHNIE (New Zealand; rugby and cricket). Between 1975 and 1981 he appeared in ten international matches for the All Blacks as well as 14 one-day cricket internationals.
VIV RICHARDS (Antigua; football and cricket). West Indies’ master batsman, who played 121 Tests between 1974 and 1991, also appeared in a World Cup qualifier for his native island.
VICTOR COSTELLO (Ireland; athletics and rugby). He competed in the shot at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and since 1996 has won 39 caps as a back-row forward.
NIGEL WALKER (Wales; athletics and rugby). As a hurdler, he was a member of the Great Britain team in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics before winning 17 caps on the wing between 1993 and 1997.
RUDI van VUUREN (Namibia; cricket and rugby). A doctor who in 2003 became the only man to play in the final stages of both the cricket and rugby World Cups.
Advertisement
MARCUS WILLIAMS