Jeff Wilson is worried he'll be shown up by his in-form New Zealand teammates when he makes a shock return to international cricket this month.
Decorated All Blacks rugby winger Wilson was as surprised as the rest of the country was yesterday when told by selector Sir Richard Hadlee he was in the Black Caps squad to face the World 11, nearly 12 years after last playing cricket for New Zealand.
He brings further star quality to a series that features some of cricket's modern greats.
"It's going to take me a little while to get my head around the fact I'm back on this stage again, I thought those days were gone," Wilson told NZPA, expressing his desire to slot smoothly into a Black Caps side who have been in winning one-day form over the last year.
"I'm fortunate to be going into a team that's really peaking, they're playing great cricket and I'd hate to be the odd one out.
"They'll have responsibilities for me and I've got to try and meet those. There will be no hiding against this team (World 11) we're playing."
Wilson, 31, was the only surprise in the Black Caps 12 for the matches in Christchurch (Jan 22), Wellington (Jan 24) and Hamilton (Jan 26).
He comes in for injured pace bowler Ian Butler, the 12th man in the sole one-day match against Sri Lanka last month.
Coach John Bracewell wanted Butler to undergo rehabilitation for the bulging disc in his back, resting for two weeks before making a domestic return.
Wilson's form for Otago this season had been solid but nothing he thought would have caught the attention of Bracewell and his fellow selectors.
"I knew if I had a strong one-day season I'd be in the back of their mind but I was probably more realistic about next season, if I could keep developing this year.
"It's only in the last couple of weeks that I've started to bowl a little bit better."
A rare natural talent, Wilson became a "double All Black" as a 19-year-old in 1993 when he played four one-day internationals for New Zealand against Australia and later in the year toured the UK with the All Blacks.
He played the first of his 60 tests against Scotland, scoring three tries. He went on to register 44 test tries, the second-most for the All Blacks behind Christian Cullen (46).
Despite being in excellent form, Wilson retired from all rugby in 2002, aged 28, to again pursue his interest in cricket.
Most of his 2-1/2 seasons of cricket have been marred by injury problems but he never regretted giving rugby away.
"When you know your time's up in a certain area of your life, you move on," he said.
"In the back of my mind I always wanted to have a crack at cricket. I knew injuries could be a possibility but I was never at the point where I'd strap on the footy boots again, I was always going to do this properly.
"Now I've got a chance to give it a crack, I can't wait."
Wilson only had a vague recollection of the 12-year-old matches he played against Australia, which included an unbeaten 44 off 28 balls to steer New Zealand to victory at Hamilton.
"It's a haze, just like my rugby career, it's all a bit of a distant memory," he said.
"There's obviously little things that jog the memory. It was a fantastic opportunity I had back then, which it is now."
Wilson said his pace with the ball had barely changed in 12 years although he may be a fraction slower in the field. "I'm not the whippet I used to be".
His attitude to the game was still the same. He was still a lively, aggressive medium pace bowler and could be a matchwinner as a hard-hitting batsman in the late middle order.
Bracewell said there was a place in the squad for another bowler who can bat well in the closing overs and wanted to see if Wilson could provide it.
New Zealand squad:
Stephen Fleming (captain), Nathan Astle, Mathew Sinclair, Scott Styris, Hamish Marshall, Chris Cairns, Jacob Oram, Brendon McCullum, Jeff Wilson, Daniel Vettori, Kyle Mills, Daryl Tuffey.-NZPA
Wilson shocked by recall to NZ one day team
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