Will Jacks scored the winning goal for England in their one-day international against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street just weeks after emergency surgery for appendicitis. The all-rounder, who was originally set to celebrate his mother’s 60th birthday in Edinburgh last month, had to undergo a rushed operation after what he first thought was a “tummy bug” turned out to be appendicitis.
“It was just really bad really quickly so we had to go,” Jacks, 27, said. “It was, obviously, completely random and quite scary. I was lucky to be looked after really well by the NHS.”
Jacks was initially given a four-week recovery period but returned ahead of schedule to captain the Lions in a warm-up match against Sri Lanka on 11 September. Since then, he has played in all three T20 matches in England’s series sweep of Sri Lanka and took career-best 50-over bowling figures of 5-22 in the first ODI.
“Luckily they were able to do a slight incision and not have to rip me open completely,” he said. The appendix operation, while common, does not suit the twisting and turning action of a spin bowler, which forced Jacks to work extra hard on rebuilding his core strength.
Jacks’ 5-22 at Chester-le-Street included 4.3 degrees of turn, the most he has achieved in his ODI career on home soil, helped by a slow pitch. Those figures were also the second-best by an England spinner in one-day internationals.
“It was more of a confidence thing,” Jacks said. “It helped that we were playing the T20s first and I was bowling a maximum of four overs. If I’m honest, I only bowled five days before the first game because I was building up my strength and trying to get some fitness back. I didn’t bowl too much in the T20 series, which probably benefited me. It has been OK.”
Jacks also made an important contribution with the bat, scoring 46 not out after coming in when England were 211-7 in the 39th over. His cautious approach, with only one four in 43 balls, helped England extend their innings to 265.
“I came in and found it really difficult to start off,” Jacks said. “I just re-evaluated what I thought was a good score and obviously what then happened with wickets falling around me a change of the role, just try and bat out the overs.”
This patient approach is a sign of Jacks’ growing maturity. He is vice-captain to Harry Brook for the Sri Lanka series in the absence of Jacob Bethell and has become a more vocal presence in the dressing room. Brook called him “just a good leader.”
Jacks has transformed from a top-order batsman to England’s finisher in T20 and 50-over formats over the past 18 months. His performances at the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka earned him player of the tournament honours. He relishes the unpredictability of his role in the middle order.
“It is not the same every day which you get opening so it keeps that fresh element to the game,” he said. “At the beginning of my career it felt like you are just fighting to play in the next game, which is not the best place to be. It is a luxury to know, say when we go to Headingley [for the second ODI], that I will be in the team. You can’t take that for granted and appreciate the hard work you have done to get there.”
Earlier this year, Jacks was part of England’s Test squad during the Ashes as the spinning all-rounder, a role now filled by Dan Lawrence. He recently met new Test coach Stephen Fleming, who joined the white-ball squad at Old Trafford last weekend.
Jacks is signed up to play for MI Cape Town in the SA20 tournament this winter. The competition’s later stages overlap with England’s two-Test series in Bangladesh, though Jacks said he wasn’t sure if he would be needed for the Tests. “We will finish the summer before getting into the winter,” he said.
For now, Jacks is focused on England’s upcoming white-ball tours to Pakistan, Australia, and South Africa as the team builds towards the 50-over World Cup next autumn. The postponed Edinburgh trip with his family remains on hold.
“It didn’t go how we planned but we will have to find time to redo it,” Jacks smiled.
According to Yahoo Sports.
