The second injury
In October 1999, Nash toured India with the Black Caps, keen
to continue the good form he had shown in England. "The
heat, the environment, and also the weather and the conditions
are so different, so it is a very difficult tour," Nash
said on arrival, "But at the same time it’s a great
challenge. It’s one that is one of the most exciting
tours in world cricket. It's also a very tough Indian side
we’re up against at the moment. So, you know, it’s
going to be a very tough tour, but one that the guys are going
to enjoy." For his own part, Nash began the tour in the
best possible way. In the First Test at Mohali, Nash posted
his best Test innings bowling figures of 6/27 in the first
innings, which saw New Zealand bowl out the home team before
lunch for just 83 runs. Fortune proved itself extremely changeable
on that tour, however: Nash’s 37 overs in the second
innings went wicketless and the Test was drawn. Nash made
another good start in the Second Test, where he scored a responsible
41 which helped shore-up the Black Caps’ batting in the
first innings. When promoted to number three in the second
innings, however, Nash was dismissed for a duck; meanwhile
he claimed only one wicket during the Test, which New Zealand
lost by eight wickets. The Third Test also ended in a draw,
giving India a 1-0 series win and, again, Nash bowled many
overs in the dry Indian heat for a reward of just one wicket.
The one-day component of the tour began in Rajkot three days
later. New Zealand posted a record total — largely thanks
to Nathan Astle’s century, scored in 49 degree heat —
and won the game by 43 runs. Meanwhile Nash’s fortunes,
however, took a radical turn for the worse. During his first
over, Nash lost his balance, fell and felt muscle spasms in
his back. He was in obvious pain and, when he tried to resume
bowling, found he could not. Nash left the field with a back
injury that was soon revealed to be a prolapsing disc in his
lumbar spine. He batted in New Zealand’s second innings
but took no further part in the series. He was obviously disappointed
to be returning home early from another cricket tour, particularly
a tour which, he felt, was a ‘litmus test’ for touring
sides, as a tour of India is. "Winning the series in
England raised the bar for us in terms of what we are striving
to achieve as a team," he said. "You don’t
really gain respect as a team until you beat other teams on
their own conditions." Nash had been optimistic about
New Zealand’s chances in the ODIs. "We are starting
to knock off some of the top sides. You naturally gain enthusiasm
to be part of that," he explained. "I really felt
we had a chance to win the current one-day series as well."
As it happened, Nash’s prediction was wrong, and New
Zealand lost the one-day series as well. He was closer to
the mark on another prediction, however. "I’ve got
a funny feeling that I will be back sooner than last time,"
Nash said of his latest back injury. He emphasised that the
injury was a new injury, and not a recurrence of the back
injury he suffered in 1996. More importantly, Nash attributed
the length of his recovery time from the previous injury to
poor diagnosis. This time, the diagnosis was swift and Nash
hoped that the recovery period needed would be only four-to-six
weeks. "This is easy to accept compared to last time,"
Nash said. "It’s a blow, but as long as I can get
back fit for the home series I will be happy. I know exactly
how I got the last one right and how to treat this one."
Nash did progress swiftly in his recovery, and by mid-December
he was bowling again at close to full pace.
A few days later, Nash passed an eleventh-hour fitness assessment
which allowed him to take part in the two home Tests against
the West Indies. He played the First Test and acquitted himself
quite well, taking three wickets. He was playing through pain,
however, and commented at the conclusion of the Test that
his selection had been a close call. "I was a little
nervous and in many ways stuck my neck out, and the coach
and his support staff did as well in terms of my taking a
place in the starting line-up," Nash said. One consequence
of Nash’s original injury in 1996 was that a day rarely
passed when he did not experience back pain; that situation
had worsened in India. "It’s not as free as it was
in England, or in the early stages in India. But it's getting
better. It’s about finding an action and a level of fitness
where my back can handle the constant pounding," Nash
explained. "I felt I could bowl at full pace. It was
just a matter of whether I could get through the amount of
overs. I’ve learnt now I’m never going to be able
to bowl flat-stick again over an extended period and it’s
a matter of bowling within yourself and being able to bowl
a quicker ball every now and then."
But Nash’s relentless, competitive streak sometimes
made it difficult for him to ‘bowl within himself’.
Nash stood in as captain when Stephen Fleming was ill and
found himself in a duel with Ricardo Powell, when the West
Indian batsman decided to go after Nash’s bowling. For
a while, Captain Nash became Captain Ahab, fixated on the
‘white whale’ that was Powell’s wicket. The
tactic did not work; Powell plundered runs, with 14 coming
off one over from Nash. Ultimately, it was an astute captaincy
decision, not a special delivery from Nash, that stemmed the
flow. He brought on Daniel Vettori, who soon removed Powell.
Nash admitted afterwards that he had become carried away.
"Sometimes the mind races away with the body," he
explained. "It is a case of trying to keep in control
and not letting the adrenalin and enthusiasm run away."
Such lapses in control were not good for Nash’s back,
either. When rain fell, he was grateful for the opportunity
to rest. New Zealand won the First Test by nine wickets, an
impressive feat, given the West Indies’ formidable first
innings total and the time lost to rain.
Nash played the Second Test in Wellington. Back pain did
not prevent him from bowling, and bowling well: in the first
innings, he sent down 18 overs for one wicket and just 23
runs, and claimed 4/38 in the second innings. New Zealand
won the Test comprehensively by an innings and 105 runs, and
the series 2-0. New Zealand white-washed the West Indies again
in the five-match one-day series which followed. Nash, in
his usual aggressive style, had been looking forward to the
series, which he hoped would be a closer competition than
the Tests. Nash’s back was increasingly painful, however,
and his role increasingly limited. He took four wickets in
four games but never bowled his full ten overs, and was struggling
to get through his action. During the fourth ODI in Wellington,
Nash was thought to be bowling at only 60% efficiency. "He
was unable to bowl with the intensity he would like, was guarded
in his follow through, and was continuing to feel pain,"
said coach David Trist.
Nash was omitted from the squad to play the fifth ODI, nominally
as a precautionary measure, in the hope that he would be fit
to play the touring Australians later in the season. He underwent
a fitness assessment, and was advised not to bowl, but took
part in the Shell Cup finals series as a specialist batsman
for Auckland. The precise nature of his back injury, however,
remained undiagnosed until early February, when further tests
revealed a stress fracture in Nash’s lower spine. He
was immediately ruled out for the remainder of the home season
and instructed not to bowl for three months. The injury was
similar, but unrelated to the 1996 injury; this time the fracture
was down the right side of Nash’s vertebra. "The
good news is that it’s a new injury and it’s a pretty
clear-cut situation, and hopefully I’ll be fit enough
for the next series," Nash told the press the next day.
"It’s another disappointment, but I’ve got
to be philosophical," Nash said. "It’s annoying
this should happen when we’re at the top of our game
and getting ready to play the world champions, but that’s
life I guess." While disappointing,
however, the injury was not unexpected. Nash confessed later
that he had suspected the true nature of the injury from the
first twinges in his back. "Oh, I knew," he told
Player magazine in 2001, "I bowled the whole West
Indies series with it and I just knew. I was taking more and
more pain-killers and it just wasn’t doing anything."
Those words suggest that Nash’s decision to play against
the West Indies was reckless but, if so, it must also have
been a desperate measure not to let injury rob him of any
more of his cricketing career.
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