One-eyed geologist scores 0 runs in 119 balls in a memorable rearguard innings
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New Zealand cricketer Fraser Wilson emerged as a hero despite his team Otago Country losing their Hawke Cup fixture against Southland on Sunday. The part-time geologist battled for 119 balls without scoring a run as he nearly grabbed an unlikely draw for his team, that too with an infected eye.
When Wilson, captain of Otago Country, strode out to bat, his team was tottering at 99/7 with 30-plus overs remaining in the final day’s play. The 35-year-old, who is known for a lot of similarly gritty performances in the 15 editions of the Hawke Cups he had participated in, batted for two hours without scoring a run. However, his heroics went in vain as he watched his team lose two wickets in the penultimate over of the day and lose the game, reported Stuff.co.nz.
It was later disclosed that Wilson was also battling an infected eye and that he was able to see through only his right eye during his knock.
"I had a bung eye all weekend. I was putting a contact lens in and I dropped it on the concrete and it picked up some dirt, so I had an infected eye.
If you completely shut it down and your only job is to hit it one meter in front of you, it can be quite an easy game.
Wilson
"I was playing with one eye the whole game. I had to open my stance up to pull my right eye around because I could only see out of my right eye," Wilson said, reported Stuff.co.nz.
Wilson said that his tactic for survival was very simple – he refrained from hitting the ball more than five meters in front of him. He said, "I was just trying to hit the ball no more than five meters in front of me. Actually in those scenarios you are better off not scoring any runs. Because I reckon it switches you on more to just to do what you need to do.
"A couple of the guys got a couple of fours away and then they would do something stupid.
"If you completely shut it down and your only job is to hit it one meter in front of you, it can be quite an easy game."
The Queenstown-based geologist is both the captain and the team manager of Otago Country.
