Publications
Partners
The Cape Cobras left-hander, who ruptured an Achilles tendon in a freak warm-down incident after the first day’s play in the first Test against Australia in Brisbane, revealed in a television interview on Monday that “June to July is probably my target, depending how the recovery goes”.
He has already been operated on, and cannot fly home quite yet because of the need for swelling to subside a little.
It is known to be a relatively serious injury for sports-people generally – certainly not uncommon in rugby players – and Duminy seems resigned to the likelihood that the “three to six months” suggestion for absence from the field will probably err more on the side of the latter period.
So there is not even any guarantee that he will be 100 percent ready for the last edition of the Champions League, which is to be scrapped after the 2012 tournament (June 6 to 23), scheduled for English and Welsh venues.
He is already certain to miss the entire domestic summer for the Proteas, who play respective, all-formats home series against New Zealand and Pakistan.
Having hobbled to his spot before the cameras on crutches and speaking to SuperSport commentator Mike Haysman during one of the intervals in play on day four, Duminy said: “It’s very disappointing but something out of my control – a freak accident.
“I was just wanting to get the legs pumping a bit (after not experiencing any active service himself on the first day) and it snapped during a quick turn.
“I kind of felt it was serious, (though) initially I thought someone had thrown a cricket ball and struck me.
“The pain wasn’t too bad ... the doc said that was probably because it had snapped completely. I will be in a cast for six to eight weeks.”
Duminy adopted a philosophical approach to the enforced absence, having been the beneficiary himself of ill-fortune during the last Test tour of Australia in 2008/09 when Ashwell Prince was injured ahead of the first Test and the rookie stepped in to become the definitive personality of the triumphant series.
“Probably Faf (du Plessis) or Thami (Tsolekile) have a chance now to stake a claim. This is where it all started for me, and I think I still have a long career ahead.
“It is a chance to sit back and look at other areas of my life for a while ... it has been a fairly hectic spell for us.”
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
