Cricket: Jeff Wilson: Finding the golden touch

By CHRIS RATTUE

An unmistakable figure came bounding out of the Otago cricket dressing room at Eden Park for a press interview.

Legs bouncing on springs, head swivelling a bit, Jeff Wilson has always seemed primed for action, whether it be finding the way to a rugby tryline or snaring a cricket wicket.

It had been a very different figure a few hours earlier, slouched in a chair on the balcony overlooking the outer oval.

And Wilson's mood up there was not exactly helped when the Herald turned up trying to arrange an interview, with the image of an umpire's raised finger still fresh in Wilson's mind.

Wilson had fended off a Heath Davis hat trick in the State Shield match against Auckland, but three balls later pushed at a rising ball from the speedster and was caught behind for a duck, although Wilson suggested the ball flicked his shoulder.

Wilson's face said it all on the balcony. Throw in that Otago's innings was stuck in reverse, and you could say it wasn't just the sky that was full of dark clouds.

When Auckland batted, things improved a touch. Wilson looked the most likely to succeed, and there was a familiar fist-pumping celebration when he dismissed Mark Richardson.

"Bad timing," a friendly Wilson said after Otago's defeat, referring to the initial approach.

This is the Jeff Wilson who is capable of just about anything in sport - could even have played basketball for New Zealand it is suggested, which really means something these days. Now, after a glittering rugby career, he has returned to the vacant spaces of New Zealand's domestic cricket venues. Cricket comebacks are a tough ask though, given the touch, timing, split second reactions and even good old luck involved. And as Wilson points out, New Zealand's inconsistent pitches haven't changed during his absence.

Three Shell Cup bats have brought an average not worth mentioning, while his medium quick deliveries have claimed five wickets at 22 each. One completed State Championship match resulted in three runs and an expensive wicket.

"I always said this process would take a while ... that it would take 18 months to feel comfortable playing the game again," says Wilson, who turned 29 in October.

"If I was going to play cricket again I had to do it now. And rugby had changed a lot in New Zealand, it really had. I didn't want to keep doing something I wasn't enjoying any more. I'd been at that top level for 10 years.

"I'm looking forward to four or five years in cricket, having some fun. Sport is to be enjoyed. I never had the Black Caps as a goal. I just want to compete at this level again.

"The media got carried away, as they do, but I've always kept my feet on the ground.

"There's been an element of frustration so far because I want to perform, but I'm very happy with the way it is going, although my bowling is a lot better than the batting. I just haven't had a lot of time in the middle."

Wilson was last a serious cricketer around 1993 when he played four one-dayers for New Zealand, although he continued to fit matches for Otago around rugby until 1997.

When Wilson walked out on rugby and a possible All Blacks recall after last year's Super 12, he prepared for cricket working with Dayle Hadlee, Mike Shrimpton and Ashley Ross at the national cricket academy in Christchurch, and playing in his native Southland.

Wilson and the experts reckoned he needed improved flexibility after years of rugby strength training, and his back would be at risk. So it proved to be. The combination of a back injury and the cricket players' strike - they almost coincided and both lasted six weeks - put his comeback on the back foot.

For now, Wilson may be trying to reach his full cricket stride, but he does not hanker for rugby.

"Not for a minute," he says, with a conviction that leaves no doubt.

Highlanders coach Laurie Mains wants his input at trainings, and Wilson attended Otago and Highlanders sessions last year. But that's as far as it will go with rugby. Cricket is the focus, and he's not even tempted by business dealings. "People know what I'm like by now. I'm a sports body."

As for whether Wilson will again blaze some cricket glory, it's a call of wait rather than yes or no at this point. Otago coach Glenn Turner, who built the foundations of his own stellar career on the patience of Job, is in no hurry to reach conclusions.

"He hasn't had enough cricket yet. There's better to come."