Jordon Cox remembered the appendix surgery he had last month, which could have ended his career. But instead, the right-handed batter worked hard and recently got his first chance to play for the England national team. Cox was chosen for the 14-member squad for the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka. He got this opportunity after Zak Crawley had to leave the team due to a finger injury.
Doctors said he needed two to three months to fully recover. However, he quickly returned to play in the Hundred Men’s competition, where he is part of the Oval Invincibles. One morning, while taking a walk, Cox missed a call and later found out he was included in the English Test team.
“I was in the hospital for three hours. At midnight, they said, ‘we need to operate now.’ The surgeon told me it would take eight to twelve weeks to recover. That would have made me miss the Hundred, which was very upsetting,” Cox said in an interview on ESPNcricinfo.
Cox has participated in two games so far, where he has made 29 runs with an average of 14.50 and a hitting rate of 93.54. Cox mentioned that he still experiences some discomfort in his hamstring.
“One of the stitches hasn’t dissolved yet, so it’s still affecting my hamstring. It feels like there’s a small ‘ping’ every time I stretch that muscle too much, but I’ve had an MRI scan and the doctors said it won’t cause any more damage,” Cox explained.
The invitation to play in the Test matches came as a surprise to Cox, as he was eagerly anticipating playing in ODI and T20I games for the Three Lions.
“I certainly didn’t expect the call to be for the Test team. I believed I was much nearer to being picked for the shorter formats – to receive a call for all three types of games would be really great,” Cox said.
Sri Lanka’s Test series with England begins on August 21, with the first match at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester.
