After five stress fractures, a back operation, a torn ankle and a shoulder dislocation, father Don hails Reece Topley’s bouncebackability for World Cup 4-fer | Cricket-world-cup News

Thomas Donald Topley says he hasn’t spoken to his son yet but that they waved at each other after the latter helped guide England to their first win at the 2023 ODI World Cup in Dharamshala on Tuesday. Speaking to The Indian Express at the HPCA Stadium after the match, Don – a former player and coach himself – takes us through Reece’s 4-fer. But first, he wears a father’s cap.
“I have huge admiration for the way he keeps coming back. Lesser, better players, probably wouldn’t have come back,” says Don, who’s talking about his son’s constant bouts with injuries. “He’s had five stress fractures, he’s had a back operation, he tore his ankle at the T20 World Cup in Australia last year, then he had a terrible fall in his first IPL game.”
It was recently in April, during Reece’s last visit to India that he dislocated his shoulder in RCB’s first IPL 2023 game and was ruled out of the entire season. “Talking to a few people, especially Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik, they were so sorry, because they were enjoying being around him and genuinely thought he was going to contribute,” Don shares.

There’s a common phrase within the Topleys for their 29-year-old left-arm quick – going back to the bank of bouncebackability. It’s a place Reece has had to go often, having missed out on the sport at crucial moments in his playing career since his England debut in 2015. With it, comes the trauma of having missed out on silverware. Like the T20 World Cup last year down under or the 2019 home ODI World Cup, both of which England won.
“If I wasn’t injured (in 2019), I think I would have been involved with that, similarly with this World Cup (T20) just gone, if I wasn’t injured I think I would have been – not just a part of it – I think I would have played a lot,” Topley would concede earlier this year before adding, “all I can say is hopefully I get my opportunity.”
Having been seated out of the tournament opener against New Zealand, Topley’s moment came during England’s game against Bangladesh in Dharamshala. On a wicket where Bangladesh quicks were clobbered the England top order batters, the left-arm pacer set the tone for England’s defence of 364, claiming three wickets in his opening spell before removing the dangerous looking Mushfiqur Rahim (51).

Coming in to bowl from the river end, Reece would nab Tanzid Hassan and Najmul Hossain Shanto off back-to-back deliveries – shaping the ball away from the two left handers to induce outside edges. “He bowls well at left handers. Because he gets the ball to swing upfront with that bounce,” says Don, whose favorite pick of the lot would come in Reece’s third over of the day. Angling the ball in from over the wicket, Reece would lure Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan to commit forward before the ball straightened up after pitching to crash into the top of off stump. “I thought that was an absolute corking delivery. We call it in England, ‘It’s a great knacker’.”
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Don, who has been in Dharamshala for the past four days, has been exploring the picturesque city and the areas near. When asked if Reece’s spell on the day was the sheen of the visit, the 59-year-old blushes. “Haha. He bowled very nicely. Cricket is very much in our family genes and was always spoken around the dining table. If you look at his size, it’s a great asset being six feet eight,” says Don, who stands at six feet three himself.

While his brother, Peter played first-class cricket for Kent, Don – a right-arm medium pacer – played the majority of his county career at Essex. Aged 20, he’d make an appearance during the England – West Indies Test match at Lord’s when he came on as a substitute fielder for Chris Broad.
Height and fast bowling aren’t the only traits that have been passed on Don to Reece. “We both went to the same school, the Royal Hospital School in Suffolk. Good at its cricket. I was the coach there for 23 years. I went there as a boy and then played my own career for Essex with my four first class captains being Jeff Howarth, Keith Fletcher, Graham Gooch and Allan Border,” says Topley Sr who may have something to do with his son’s obsession for the longest format of the game.

Reece, who made both his ODI and T20I debut, is still eyeing a first Test cap for England. “He’s quite old fashioned in terms of his love for cricket,” says Don before adding the harsh lesson his son has learnt through the tough phases of his career. “He just wants to play because he knows as a fast bowler, there’s always an injury around the corner. So he never takes anything for granted.”