New Zealand all-rounder Jimmy Neesham has been picked for the Kiwi World Cup squad and he couldn’t be more ecstatic about it and said that it was ‘Surreal’.
He revealed that he was going through a really tough time in his life and there was a time when he came very close to quitting cricket and needed professional help and counselling to help him back to the cricket field.
After having not made the cut to represent New Zealand in the 2015’s edition of the ICC world cup and 2017 Champions trophy, the 28-year old was named in the 15-man squad for the ICC world cup which will take place in England and Wales from 30th May.
“It came as close as it could get. I actually called Heath Mills and told him I was going to retire so I owe a lot to him to convince me to take a little break and come back three or four weeks later,” Neesham was quoted as saying by ‘ESPNCricinfo’.
“From there, being able to make progress steadily, come back with Wellington and make this team it’s all been a pretty surreal ride,” he added.
“Waking up in the morning, opening the shades and hoping it was raining is not the ideal way to start a day of cricket and I’d basically got to the point where I needed to have a full overhaul in the way I was approaching the game,” he said.
“When I got dropped at the start of last season I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed and wanted to dominate domestic cricket…Luckily I took the advance, took a short break rather than a long break, and since then it’s been on the up and up,” he recalled.
Neesham said that he worked with a psychologist to overcome his troubles and rediscover his love for cricket.
“I saw a psychologist who was really helpful, starting at the bottom and working up to where all these frustrations were coming from,” he said.
“I’m not much of communicator at the best of time, just being able to talk through some of the struggles I was having off the field – it only took four or five sessions to really see some progress,” he added.
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