“Through my rehab I’ve developed a big ball of scar tissue on my ACL, called a lesion, that I need cleaned up because it’s blocking my range of movement,” Leopard said after making 87 not out in Tech’s 10-wicket win over Napier Old Boys’ Marist on Saturday.
“I haven’t fully been able to get back to 100, but I’m about 90%. I can still play club cricket.
“But because I can’t get full extension and fully bend my knee, I can’t hit top speed sprinting so when I go to sprint I run with a peg-leg almost.”
That certainly hasn’t hampered his performance for Tech.
In the 50-over MJF Shrimpton Memorial Cup Leopard’s scored 455 runs at an average of 113.75, as part of an opening partnership with Harrison Woolley that’s averaging 141.2 in the competition.
But that duo could break up “any day now” because Leopard is scheduled to have the lesion removed, which will then keep him out of action for four to six weeks.
Exactly when that procedure occurs depends on the availability of his Auckland-based surgeon.
Leopard then hopes to be fit to play in March’s Shrimpton and Murray McKearney Memorial Cup Twenty20 finals, ahead of another season of football.
Perhaps not the most technically-gifted footballer of all time, Leopard is a former New Zealand Secondary Schools’ cross country representative and record-breaking track athlete and that’s why he can’t wait to pull on a Rovers’ shirt again.
“Not everyone here [at Tech] is going to be happy about that, but you don’t stop doing what you love because of an injury, right?” said Leopard.
“The reason I love football is because it offers that running side that cricket doesn’t. Like, I am a runner and I love the feeling in football of being knackered after a game. Some people need to understand that.”
Tech’s 10-wicket win over Marist leaves them 28 points ahead of second-placed Central Hawke’s Bay in the 50-over competition. CHB beat Cornwall by 55 runs on Saturday, but the big result of the round came at Taradale Park.
Chasing 245 to beat Havelock North, Taradale looked dead and buried at 164/7. With seven overs left in the innings, they still needed 77 with 17-year-old Josh Young at the crease on 3 off 20 balls.
By the time Young hit Baljeet Singh Ranu over long-on for six, he was 56 not out off 42 balls and Taradale had scored a famous victory with two wickets and four deliveries to spare.
“This is feeling very weird. It’s not something I’ve done too often,” Young said after his match-winning heroics.
When Young came to the wicket at 145/6, his first priority was to score a run. This was just his second match for Taradale in this competition, with his debut ending in a first-ball duck against Cornwall.
The idea of victory never entered his mind until the 44th over, when he hit Monty Field for three successive sixes.
Five runs were required off the final over and, once Ben Stoyanoff was able to scamper through for a first-ball bye, the stage was set for Young to finish the match in style.
It was a critical win for Taradale, who often play periods of good cricket but don’t always know how to close out a result.
But, after beating Tech in the previous week’s Twenty20 clash, they’ve now knocked over third-placed Havelock North.
Both Havelock and Taradale now have 29 competition points, with just net run-rate separating them.
“This is a pretty big one,” Taradale captain Luke Kenworthy said.
“Tech and Havelock are the two top teams in the overall table, so this goes to show that our best cricket’s as good as anyone’s.”
Taradale narrowly missed out on qualifying for the three-team Twenty20 finals and Kenworthy says they’re determined to use Saturday’s win over Havelock as a springboard to the 50-over semifinals.
* This article is provided courtesy of Hawke’s Bay Cricket Association
