Will Jacks stars for England after appendix surgery scare
The all-rounder took five wickets for 22 runs against Sri Lanka just four weeks after an emergency appendectomy nearly kept him out of the series.
Will Jacks took five wickets for 22 runs to seal an 89-run win over Sri Lanka on Tuesday, four weeks after emergency surgery that nearly ruled him out of England's white-ball fixtures.
What began as a family trip to Scotland for his mother's 60th birthday ended with the 27-year-old hospitalised soon after landing in Edinburgh. He had his appendix removed the following day.
"It was completely random and quite scary," Jacks said. "I was really lucky to be looked after really well by the NHS. The recovery depended on the surgery. You don't know the recovery until after you wake up. I was just fingers crossed going in and luckily they were able to do a slight incision and not have to rip me open completely."
The operation left him with three small scars on his abdomen and a month to get fit again before the Sri Lanka series, and he admitted feeling "a little under-cooked" when he returned for the Lions earlier this month, with an unbeaten 46 in the opening ODI at the Banks Homes Riverside.
"It was more of a confidence thing," Jacks said. "I have lost a lot of my core strength. If I am honest, I only bowled five days before the first T20 because I was building up my strength."
England sit second in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup standings, on six points from four matches. Even by his own account he is still working back to full strength.
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