Will Jacks returns from emergency surgery to take 5-22 as England beat Sri Lanka in Chester-le-Street
Will Jacks, who underwent emergency appendicitis surgery in Edinburgh last month, returned to take career-best 50-over figures of 5-22 as England beat Sri Lanka in the first one-day international at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday. He also contributed 46 not out with the bat in England's innings.
Jacks had originally planned to be in Edinburgh for his mum's 60th birthday but what he thought was a "tummy bug" became appendicitis, prompting a rushed visit to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and emergency surgery. "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." He was initially given a four-week recovery period but returned a few days early to captain the Lions in a warm-up against Sri Lanka on 11 September and then played in all three T20s in England's series sweep.
On the wicket at Chester-le-Street Jacks produced 4.3 degrees of turn, the most he has managed at home in his ODI career on a slow pitch, and his 5-22 were the second best figures by an England spinner in one-day internationals. "Luckily they were able to do a slight incision and not have to rip me open completely," he said, noting he had rebuilt core strength because the surgery did not fit naturally with a spin bowler's action. "It was more of a confidence thing," he added. "It helped that we were playing the T20s first and I was bowling a maximum of four overs. If I am 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 played a crucial role with the bat, finishing 46 not out after facing 43 deliveries with only one four as he shepherded England from 211-7 in the 39th over to 265 in the penultimate. Though he was eventually left stranded, he described a change in role during the innings: "I came in and found it really difficult to start off. 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."
Selected as vice-captain to Harry Brook for the Sri Lanka series in the absence of Jacob Bethell, Jacks has become more prominent within the group and was the first to speak to the media during England's T20 World Cup earlier this year amid the cloud of Brook's Wellington episode. Brook said simply: "He's just a good leader." Jacks has spent the last 18 months moving from the top of the order to the middle as England's finisher in limited-overs cricket and was England's player of the tournament at the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
It is also noted that Jacks began the year in England's Test side as their spinning all-rounder during the Ashes, a role now filled by Dan Lawrence, and that he met new Test coach Stephen Fleming when Fleming joined the white-ball squad at Old Trafford last weekend. Jacks is signed up to play for MI Cape Town in the SA20 this winter; there would be no clash with Fleming's first tour in charge in South Africa over Christmas, but the later part of the T20 competition overlaps with England's two Tests in Bangladesh, "where English spinners will be needed." On his availability he said: "I don't know about what would happen or even if they would want me. We will finish the summer before getting into the winter."
England plan white-ball trips to Pakistan, Australia and South Africa as they prepare for the 50-over World Cup next autumn, and Jacks said the cancelled Edinburgh family trip will be rescheduled: "It didn't go how we planned but we will have to find time to redo it," Jacks smiled.
