“I couldn’t really see the ball”
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor has revealed that he had problems seeing the ball during the first Test against Australia in Brisbane.
Taylor had been struggling with the bat prior to the ongoing series and fared no better at the Gabba as he posted scores of zero and 26.
But, the 31-year-old was informed that his technique wasn’t to blame. Instead, he was diagnosed with a pterygium in his left eye, which is an overgrowth of the thin clear membrane on the surface of the eye.
After visiting an eye specialist between the first and second Test, Taylor was given some eye drops and did not do as much preparation as he had done prior to the first Test. As a result, he scored a career-best 290, which also went down in history as the highest score ever made by a visiting batsman in Australia.
“I had to get my eyes tested in between,” Taylor said. “I couldn’t really see the ball so the eye drops obviously worked. I have a pterygium in my left eye and I do that a lot [open eyes]. The optometrist said when it’s dark you’ll probably do this a lot [opens eyes] and I told the boys and they lost it because that’s how they take the mickey out of me.”
However, Taylor’s eye problem is just one major obstacle he has to be wary of as he was also told that he has to avoid being hit in the testicular area for two more months as he underwent surgery after suffering a serious blow in that area in August.
“Yes, for four months, try to not get hit – it’s an interesting thing to tell a player,” Taylor said. “I think I’ve got about two months to go so I’m counting down. It’s good to be hitting balls again but there’s no discomfort. It’s a bit nerve wracking when 160kph is coming at you but once you get into the fight the adrenalin kicks in and the instincts take over and you just bat.”
Taylor also conceded that he might have trained too hard before the first Test in Brisbane and this resulted in him putting too much pressure on himself.
“I was out of the game for six weeks, I couldn’t do anything,” he said. “I was anxious, it’s a big tour and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves and I wanted to do well and was a bit underdone and all at sea.
“I trained pretty hard leading in but sometimes when you try too hard you don’t get the results. Leading into this I let it all go to see where it took me.I’d put too much pressure on myself so I just relaxed, got on the balls of my feet and played straight. Chalk and cheese from where I was a week ago.”