Pakistan fights but NZ in control
Injured bowler plays through pain of broken foot
If you want to know how much it means to play for your country, pull up a chair, move in close and listen to Neil Wagner. The left-arm quick bowled through some serious pain on day three, taking 2-50 in 21 overs of genuine toil. Wagner broke the fourth toe of his right foot after being struck by a Shaheen Shah Afridi Yorker while batting on day two.
“It hurts every time I walk,” he said of his long day in the field. “Walking to fine leg, doing anything, twisting, turning, as soon as you bend your toe a little bit, it hurts.
“You just try to put it out of your mind and get on with it.”
It might not have been Richie McCaw winning a Rugby World Cup on a broken foot, but it was pretty damn impressive all the same.
“I take a lot of pride in [playing hurt], but it comes down to team,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to sit on the side with my foot up and watching the boys do the hard work out there.
“I’d have a bit of FOMO [fear of missing out].
“It wouldn’t be right. Injuries happen and it was a bit unlucky but I can still walk . . . I don’t want to let my teammates down. Test matches don’t come easy. Playing for your country is something you can never take for granted. I know how bloody hard I had to work to get where I am now so I’m sure as hell not going to sit on the side watch other people do it.”
Still, there was a time before the first rain break when he thought about bailing out. The pain was too relentless and acute. Instead, he used the break to get an injection.
“I thought, ‘Damn it, I can’t bear the pain. I’ll get a jab.’ That took the pain away for a little bit and that helped, but at five o’clock it started wearing off again pretty quickly. You just have to find a way, deal with it and bowl for your mates I guess.”
The 34-year-old said he would find a way to bowl in the second innings as New Zealand chase a victory that will keep them in the hunt for a World Test Championship final berth.
“It’s going to be damn sore, no doubt about it, but bowling is always sore. I’ve never bowled a game when something doesn’t hurt. It’s part of it. I’m just going to have to find a way to contribute to the team.”
That’s a problem for day four, though. After he hobbled from the ground, he had a big night planned.
“It was a struggle to get the boot off and now it’s off and I’m off the field, it sort of hits. The adrenaline goes and the pain sets in.
“I’m looking forward to getting home, putting my foot up and getting some ice on it, that’s for sure,” he said.