For the love of the game

The next time you hear of a player retiring hurt with a hairline fracture of his pinky, point him in the direction of David Morrison, a league wicketkeeper in England who has broken each and every finger and thumb. The end result does not make for an attractive picture, and his crooked digits certainly rule out a future career as a glove salesman, but let us admire the man's blind courage and determination. Far too often the modern cricketer is wrapped in (sponsored) cotton wool, metaphorically and otherwise, when the most effective treatment is a frozen bag of supermarket peas.


"My fingers still work, more or less," Morrison said through gritted teeth. "I can bend them all from the first knuckle, although I do have a physio who manipulates the joints to soften the tissue."

His wife, Valerie, is powerless to stop the man injuring himself further. "He's back playing for Barton as if nothing's happened," she said, "then he creeps home on Saturday night with yet another black eye."