Tucker: I can't play back-to-back games

Janeiro Tucker’s ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Division Two Tournament fate hangs in the balance.

The 35-year-old star all-rounder has been advised by doctors to undergo a second surgery for tendonitis in his left knee that could rule him out of next April’s tournament in Dubai.

He said: “The doctor said I can have the operation March or April — but I don’t want to get it done. If I get the operation I won’t play any cricket next year — that’s why I am weighing my options.”

Tucker’s injury woes is a ticklish subject national coach David Moore chooses to steer well clear of.

Gamble

But even Moore realizes that at some point the difficult decision whether or not to gamble on a physically challenged Tucker in Dubai will have to be made.

Tucker said: “I told the coach (Moore) that with my knee I probably wouldn’t be able to play back-to-back 50 over cricket matches. If I play a 50 over game on a Tuesday I am not going to be able to play on a Wednesday.

“I’m going to need to recover for at least two days and then pop pills (pain killers) to help take away the pain and then go back and play again — that’s the only way I would be able to get over it.

“Playing on it (knee) is not the problem, it’s the after effect that’s the hardest to deal with.

“I can play cricket all day but once I stop I have to deal with the pain — I don’t feel any pain playing.”

Should he opt against having surgery, Tucker reckons his knee can stand up to the rigours of domestic cricket next season.

He added: “If I don’t have the operation I think I can last the domestic season. It’s going to be rigorous but I probably won’t train as I would any other time, my knee wouldn’t be up for it. I can’t do the physical training.

Popping pills

“The only way I can play (without the operation) is if I keep popping pills. I have to keep numbing myself up – that’s the only way I can play.”

Even with the operation doctors say there’s no guarantee Tucker will make a full recovery.

He said: “There’s a fifty percent chance I can make a full recovery or it might just stay the way it is, like it did after the last operation.

“If I don’t get the operation then I will have to live with this for the rest of my life — playing on it (knee) and then just dealing with the pain. It’s a chance I have to take.”