Taylor undaunted by eye issue

News

Cricket365
November 24, 2016

Ross Taylor says he is confident that he will be able to perform despite a deterioration in the condition of his eye ahead of the second Test against Pakistan.

Taylor has a pterygium, a growth of fleshy tissue, on his left eye which worsened during the first Test and will require surgery but doctors have cleared him to play.

Taylor has suffered a poor run of form this season, struggling in South Africa and India but feels he will soon get back to his best.

Taylor told ESPN Cricinfo: “When you play and miss your first couple of balls after seeing an optometrist, there are some interesting things that go through your mind.

“Finding out during the Test match was a little bit distracting mentally. Eyes are pretty important. Hopefully I can come back and get back to the form I was in a few years ago.”

Taylor has had the condition for about five or six years but first noticed a worsening of the issue during the Brisbane Test against Australia last year.

He will undergo surgery after the series against Pakistan to remove the growth and should make a full recovery.

Taylor explained: “The surgery involves cutting your eye, and cutting the growth.

“Then they’ll take a little bit from under the eyelid and glue it in so the growth doesn’t come back.

“With any operation there’s always a chance that things don’t go as well as possible. The surgeon I talked to last night was pretty confident that the recovery time is as we had said.

“After four to six weeks there could be a period when it does deteriorate a little bit, but hopefully I can get it back after a little while.”

Taylor has seen specialists who have cleared him to play and confirmed he has excellent vision despite the growth.

He went on: “All the tests said I had very good vision – I guess the growth was just coming across. I prepared to play, even before I saw the specialists.

“I am looking forward to this Test. I can’t say I’m looking forward to the operation, given what it entails, but I’m sure I’ll get over it.”

Taylor says the batsmen in the team are relishing the challenge of playing on a green top at Seddon Park.

He concluded: “There’s been a mindset change in the team.

“In the last three or four years we’ve always played on green seamers, or wickets that have got a little bit in it for the seam bowlers.

“The way the guys train – a few years ago no one would have wanted to go and bat in the green net. But now, in the green net in Hamilton – all the boys want to go and bat in that to test themselves out.

“There’s no use going to bat on a flat wicket when you know the ball’s going to do a bit out there on day one and two.”