Debutant Blair Tickner celebrates the wicket of Ben Duckett of England during day two of the First Test match in the series between the New Zealand Blackcaps and England at the Bay Oval. Photo / Phil Walter/Getty Images)
Debutant Blair Tickner celebrates the wicket of Ben Duckett of England during day two of the First Test match in the series between the New Zealand Blackcaps and England at the Bay Oval. Photo / Phil Walter/Getty Images)
As Black Cap’s fast bowler Blair Tickner was making his test debut, his mind wasn’t on the monumental match.
Instead, his thoughts were with his hometown of Hastings, as Hawke’s Bay was being torn apart by Cyclone Gabrielle.
Days after England defeated New Zealand by 267 runs at Bay Ovalin Mount Maunganui, both Tickner, 29, and teammate Will Young were released from the squad to travel home to help their families and the communities they grew up around in the wake of the storm.
Tickner - who took four wickets in his first test - was visibly emotional as he spoke to the press about the devastation he returned to.
“Obviously, you grow up there as a kid… it’s just crazy, to be honest, it’s hard to talk about, to be honest,” he said.
He spoke about what he thought his first test would look like, the dream of seeing your family and friends in the crowd cheering, a dream dashed by the storm.
By chance, he said his Dad was able to stop in for half an hour as he was picking up generators for the people in Hawkes Bay, just in time to see him takehis first test wicket, before going on to make the seven-hour drive back home.
It was moments like these that he described as a “bright light” for this family, which drives him to prepare for the series finale in Wellington.
“I think the only thing I sort of kept going back to is my family just saying it’s the only bright light at the moment,” he said, fighting back tears.
Will Young and Blair Tickner were released early from the squad to travel back home to help their families and community. Photo / photosport.nz
In a light-hearted moment, Tickner joked he hoped his father didn’t read the news, as he revealed he had got his dad’s loader stuck while helping his neighbour clear debris from their yard.
“It’s about a metre of mud at the moment. I probably should have driven around the neighbour’s yard and they said it wasn’t that deep and I got it stuck,” he recounted.
“So, sorry about that Dad.”
NZ Cricket and ANZ have teamed up to raise money for the Red Cross Disaster Fund in response to the cyclone’s devastation.
All ticket proceedsfrom the first one-day international between the Blackcaps and Sri Lanka, at Eden Park on March 25, will go to the cyclone recovery. $1 million has already been committed by ANZ, and public donations are also welcome.
Tickner said he and his team were wanting to help out however they could.
“It’s awesome to see NZ Cricket and ANZ coming forward for the first game against Sri Lanka,” he said.
“Hopefully, we can have a sell-out and all that money goes to them. The cyclone [has affected] all around New Zealand.
