One of New Zealand cricket’s cult figures, Blair Tickner, is no stranger to playing through personal hardship. The 32-year-old will don the black test cap against West Indies on Wednesday for the first time since Sri Lanka in March 2023 amid a bowling injury crisis.
As excitement builds for his first test appearance in 33 months, a fizzing Blair Tickner still can’t shake the phrase “there are bigger things in life than cricket," The Post reported.
More than two years have passed since Blair Tickner last played for New Zealand, two years in which his life was thrown into chaos, his career into doubt, his family into crisis.
“Obviously, people haven’t seen me as much, but I feel like I’ve been doing all the right things for the last two years,” he was quoted by the Guardian as saying of his call-up, one game into the ODI series against England. “So nothing’s really changed. I’m still the same guy.”
Blair Tickner's personal challenges
In May 2024, Tickner's wife was diagnosed with leukaemia while he was in England playing for Derbyshire.
He received the call just before the start of a County Championship game against Sussex, but because the toss had already taken place and he had been named in the XI, the ECB refused Derbyshire permission to replace him.
“We tried to get myself out of that game but the ECB kept me in,” he said. “So I had to play that game knowing my wife had leukaemia...," he was quoted as saying. Tickner’s wife, Sarah, is now in remission.
Following the diagnosis, Tickner faced the possibility that his career could be over, as he concentrated on supporting Sarah and helping to raise his daughter Flo, who was nine months old at the time, The Guardian reported.
In recent weeks, his father, John, suffered a stroke after his son’s starring role for the Black Caps in their ODI win over England at Sky Stadium on November 1.
“He’s been in the hospital since then. There’s always something with the Tickner household but he’s on the mend,” Tickner told The Post.
Initially admitted to Wellington Hospital, Tickner senior is now recovering at Hawke’s Bay Hospital in Hastings.
“We’ve had times when I’ve been home...he’s doing pretty well but I’m away a lot until Christmas so it’s a bit tough. I call him every day.”
Tickner had earlier told an English media contingent in Wellington in February 2023 of his father’s home in Awatoto being wiped out by Cyclone Gabrielle (since repaired).
He was brought to tears, describing the cleanup efforts which he joined after making his test debut in Tauranga.
