Stiff upper lip takes on new meaning in the wake of the disclosure that Chris Lynn will miss all of the summer Big Bash cricket games to have surgery on his shoulder.
His was most definitely not a case of Patrick Dangerfield-like malingering by any stretch. A shoulder so damaged that an MRI revealed that he has not just one issue, but three forms of tears in his shoulder, including one to the all-important rotator cuff, hampered Lynn. Lynn is scheduled to me with a cricket specialist doctor, Greg Hoy, after which he will have surgery.
The issue has forced Lynn to forego T20 contracts in the West Indian and Bangladesh premier leagues for a lay about on a Melbourne surgical table.
Lynn himself sounded rather pragmatic about the whole scenario. Speaking with the Courier Mail, he said, “They are pretty confident they can get it right but there is obviously no certainty. If you hurt something once you are never going to be 100 per cent but I would like to be somewhere near 100 per cent. Right now it is about 50 per cent and declining. If I can get it up to around 90 per cent I would be real happy with that.’’
Lynn has been in grin-and-bear-it mode for the past three years with his balky shoulder. Hard to imagine for those of us for whom typing represents a Herculean effort and a sore shoulder would have us running from the keyboard in serach of ice, tea and sympathy.
Despite being hampered and restricted, Lynn has been able to produce some highlight-reel worthy moments, including a 124 m six at the Gabba that made it all the way to the practice nets.
Lynn’s shoulder issue is similar in nature and severity to that endured by Johnathan Thurston, which only goes to show that cricket is not all white shirt and pants and tea between overs.
