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| July 31, 2003 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1424 |
No regrets for batting with broken finger: Martyn
CAIRNS (Australia), July 30: Australian batsman Damien Martyn said on Wednesday he had no regrets batting with a broken finger in the World Cup final despite the fact the decision led to a four-month injury lay-off.
Martyn went into the World Cup final against India in Johannesburg last March knowing he had a broken finger — sustained in the semifinal against Kenya — and made 88 not out in a match-winning partnership of 224 with skipper Ricky Ponting.
The defending champions became the first team to win three World Cups when they beat India by 125 runs in a one-sided final at the Wanderers.
By playing, Martyn further damaged the finger, which ended up looking like an “eggshell” with five small fractures.
After four months on the sidelines and with his smashed right index finger still heavily taped, Martyn hopes to return to one-day cricket this weekend when Australia takes on Bangladesh in a one-day double-header here.
While healing, he’s missed a tour to the West Indies and an historic first Test against Bangladesh in his home town of Darwin while his Test place isn’t even guaranteed when he returns after replacement Martin Love made an unbeaten century against Bangladesh here this week.
“Even if I’d known what was going to happen I wouldn’t change it at all,” Martyn said on Wednesday.
“The World Cup final was the biggest highlight of my life — the frustrating thing is that I didn’t think I’d be out for so long, I thought it would be two or three weeks or a month.”
Instead he had to undergo an operation and it was more than two months before he could hold a cricket bat, let alone hit balls and catch.
“It’s been a long slow process of rehab and waiting for the joint to mend. I’ll never have full movement in it and in old age it’ll be a bit arthritic.
“But at the moment I can catch and throw and bat without pain — that’s the main thing for me at the moment, that I can hold a bat and play.
“In that sense the finger’s good now, I’m just rusty cricket-wise.”
Martyn hopes he can play the final one-dayer in his birthplace Darwin against Bangladesh next week.
“It was sad missing the Test match in Darwin, I hate missing Test matches but you have to take the expertise and act on that.”
“I’ve just got to focus on getting picked this weekend and whatever happens down the track is what happens.
Martyn’s worry after this series is that he’ll probably have just two games to make his case for selection in the team to play Zimbabwe in the first Test, starting on Oct 9.
The touring Zimbabweans play warm-up games in Perth against a Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI and against Western Australia.—AFP
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