Jhye ready to shoulder load of missing pace ace Hazlewood
JHYE Richardson has made a stunning comeback to Test cricket 18 months after a late night emergency phone call to a doctor led to his career being saved.
So brittle was the shoulder Richardson badly dislocated in the high-impact fielding accident which destroyed his 2019 World Cup and Ashes dreams, he rolled over in his sleep one night a year later and popped it out of its socket for a third time.
The West Australian doctor and physio rushed to his house to find him in agony and it was decided he had no choice but to undergo major reconstructive surgery if he was to be a chance of returning to the top.
“It was horrific. It was the offseason so we’d just finished the domestic season and he was asleep in bed and 10pm at night he called myself and the doctor and we were around his house in 15 minutes,” said WA physio, Nick Jones ahead of Richardson’s date with destiny against England.
“We put it back in in the middle of the night and at that point we knew and he knew that when it was coming out that easily because of the damage that had been done ... it was very obvious that without surgical intervention he was not going to be able to have a long-term career as a pace bowler in cricket. That’s a significant point isn’t it, in anyone’s career when you know you’ve got to go under the knife to try and save your career.”
Richardson – the man charged with filling the void left by pink ball demon Josh Hazlewood at Adelaide Oval on Thursday – feared he may never bowl at Test level again and reached out for help dealing with his mental struggles.
Richardson returns in Adelaide a medical marvel – which he will need to be given Hazlewood’s Adelaide day-night record of 28 wickets in five matches at 18.42.
“We’re 18 months down the track from when he had it done and we’re at that point where we’re now reaping the rewards,” said Jones.
The physio concedes Richardson still needs to be careful diving in the field.