Former footballer turned cricketer suffered bizarre injury by pressing a button in a lift
CRICKET star Ben McKinney was forced to miss a week of action - after injuring himself waiting for a LIFT.
Ben McKinney, 20, sat out a county championship match against Hampshire with back spasms earlier this month.
2
The 6ft7 opening batsman is a former footballer in Sunderland 's academy.
But despite being a natural sportsman, his body let him down in the most bizarre fashion.
McKinney told The Telegraph: "I had a heavy bag on my shoulder and bent down to press the button.
"My back went into spasm and that was it."
Durham star McKinney is the latest youngster seemingly destined for the England setup.
He captained the England under-19 side and has enjoyed two tours with the Lions to South Africa and Australia.
McKinney penned a two-year extension in the North East in January.
And he credits England legend Andrew Flintoff with helping him improve his game over recent months.
McKinney added: "Freddie spoke to me about self confidence and presence.
"I used to actually be quite a small presence at the crease in terms of posture and body language.
Jobe Bellingham takes swipe at Sky Sports pundits in live TV interview before awkward moment with panel at Wembley
"The big thing I got from him was, actually, yeah, I'm at the crease now, and no one's gonna get me out and I'm gonna try and bully the bowler.
"It's not a disrespectful thing to anyone. It's just that self confidence. It does help. I'm quite the opposite person off the field."
McKinney was on the books at Sunderland as a teenager, before having to make a choice between football and cricket.
He added: "I was, to be fair to myself, a decent footballer, but it's obviously really hard to break through.
"I'm not saying it's not hard to crack cricket, but the chances and the amount of people that play football make it tough.
"And, you know, there's people that loved it [football] more than me as well. Cricket was always the number one for me."
McKinney is a boyhood Sunderland fan but was unable to make this month's Championship playoff final against Sheffield United.
The Black Cats returned to the Premier League after a last-minute comeback win over the Blades at Wembley.
He continued: "I was already out so was able to watch the play-off final [on the TV in the dressing room].
"One of the only occasions I've been glad to be out."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
18 minutes ago
- BBC News
'I lost my sight at 15 and want to give others hope through art'
A teenage artist who lost her sight at aged 15 says having her work displayed is a dream come true. Lilly, from Kingstanding in Birmingham, was registered blind after undergoing surgery for several health issues, including the removal of two brain found joy in painting as she recovered in hospital, after being inspired by American painter Bob Ross. Her striking Hope Within the Mountains painting will be on display in Birmingham's Victoria Square throughout June. Lily said she was "happy, excited and surprised" it was part of the Open25 exhibition. "I was waiting for it to be put up so I could come down here and see it," she said. "Even though I'm blind, I can still see part of it [because] it's so bright. I'm just shocked." The teenager wants to inspire others and spread positivity and is promoting her work on social media under the name of Hope Studioz. Asked about the name of her displayed artwork, Lily said it was chosen by her mother, Cherie. "It seems right," she said. "It was perfect. The name just sounded right for the painting." Lily's father, Graham said he hoped his daughter would now understand how good she was. "She's a 15-year-old girl who is registered blind, and yet she produces art that's good enough to go up in an exhibition," he said. "Lily wasn't born with a middle name [but] we actually gave her the name Hope because of the journey she had gone on, because she has fought and battled through life. "Regardless of what goes on, she still creates beauty and keeps going. "Hope is the inner strength that Lil has that she shares with everyone through her painting." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
20 minutes ago
- Telegraph
My retirement warning to Care, Youngs, Cole, Brown and Goode
For more than two decades these players will have thought of themselves, principally, as rugby players and not just because it was their profession. I would bet much that even before they made it to the professional grade they thought of themselves as such. What they now have to accommodate is a different identity and one through which they can find ongoing fulfilment. They have had extraordinary experiences but must now find a new way forward. Coaching, managing, punditry; all might keep some involvement with rugby, but there is nothing like playing. Another factor they will have to accommodate is that they all played with clubs with very distinct identities. When players assume a role as part of a group, they assume some of the group's characteristics as part of their identity. Clubs with a highly developed sense of locality, such as Leicester Tigers, imperceptibly instil more than just an affinity between player and club. This affects players in a wider sense that is not always appreciated by players until they leave that environment (Hogg & van Knippenberg, 2005) (Turner, 2004). They need to think carefully about what sort of future career could give them a sufficient challenge and maintain an amended identity, all of which depends squarely on their own personality. Living in the non-sporting world can be frustratingly opaque. There is a thrill in publicly, and definitively, winning or losing a weekly contest – no arguing. I won; you lost. This can become addictive, and its intensity is enhanced by digital and social media. Finding a life that is not boring by comparison is not as easy as assumed. Financially, all of them should be comfortable by normal standards, but they should note that a past player survey commissioned by the Professional Players' Federation, (in partnership with the RPA, the PCA, and PFA) stated that 52 per cent of respondents reported financial difficulties in the five years immediately after stopping playing. The unfortunate experiences of playing greats such as Lawrence Dallaglio and Phil Vickery evidence that even winning a World Cup is no barrier to financial difficulties. What players should understand is that what makes them successful at sport does not necessarily lead them to make sensible financial decisions. Bars, restaurants and the like, are more exciting than gilts and longer-term investments but a player's fame is not enough to make a bad investment good. Taking egregious risks might win games; it is rarely the same in finance. It took me years of struggle, obtaining the relevant diplomas in counselling and psychotherapy, and a master's degree in psychology to understand all this. I salute your outstanding careers and good luck in whatever comes next. Just remember this – men, for a variety of proven reasons, are not good at asking for help when they get into trouble, especially regarding mental health (Schlichthorst et al, 2016). If you do struggle, there is no shame in asking for help.
Telegraph
35 minutes ago
- Telegraph
The militant ‘crabs' threatening to bring the NHS to a standstill
A militant group of doctors who use social media to recruit is driving forward strike action by resident doctors. The current co-chairs of the British Medical Association's (BMA) resident doctors' committee are members of DoctorsVote, which professes to be 'a grassroots organisation committed to advocating for the full pay restoration of UK doctors'. The group is prolific on social media, where disgruntled medics unite, often behind pseudonyms, seeking to forge ahead with more strikes designed to further boost their salaries. In spring, junior doctors – now referred to formally as resident doctors – were offered the biggest pay rise in the public sector in a bid to end years-long disruption to the NHS. The average full-time salary for a resident doctor will now be more than £54,000, the Department of Health and Social Care said – but the BMA wants another set of strikes to force another 30 per cent pay hike. The slogan: 'Be a crab, not a scab' is used to enforce picket lines, and now crustaceans can be seen on the social media accounts of advocates. The humble crab is now shorthand for strike approval. Reddit, TikTok, Instagram and X are awash with the group, which makes use of Gen Z memes and trends to promote its message. This, in tandem with a traditional TV and PR campaign, creates a potent propaganda machine. In recent years, the group has come to dominate the BMA. The co-chairs of the BMA resident doctors' committee in 2022-2024 both had roots in DoctorsVote. Their successors, Dr Melissa Ryan, a 45-year-old paediatrician from Nottingham, and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt, a 29-year-old surgical trainee from Merseyside, were also elected under the same banner. DoctorsVote won 70 out of 75 seats on regional junior doctor committees across England in 2023. The fresh 30 per cent demand comes on the back of a 22 per cent pay rise that Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, and Sir Keir Starmer prioritised after Labour's landslide election win last year. Now, the Government appears to be paying the price for it negotiation tactics. As one Tory MP told The Telegraph: 'If you roll over so easily then, why would they stop now?' Or, as one anonymous doctor online put it: 'We have them by the balls. Let's squeeze.' Dr Nieuwoudt confessed earlier this week that Mr Streeting's latest offer was 'generous' – but, he said, not generous enough. The BMA sent out a leaflet to the 50,000 members who will vote on whether they are prepared to take strike action and to further the pay dispute. Half need to reply for it to progress. In the leaflet, a section of frequently asked questions includes one in which junior doctors raise concerns that they are now perceived as greedy by their registrars and consultants. They are now cognisant of the reality that they profited the most in recent years compared to other public sector professions, and are worried about how fresh action would look. And, it seems, the public shares their stance and has a diminishing perception of the strike advocates. Gone is the majority support for them to be paid more, replaced by a sense of fatigue that strikes and withdrawal of care are being used to wring out more money from the taxpayer. More people now oppose strikes than support them, a YouGov poll has found – a profound shift from last year, when more than half of people said they supported the strikes. Now, the resident doctors of DoctorsVote want to strike again. Coordination of industrial action with more senior doctors and specialists could hobble the NHS at skeleton staffing akin to Christmas Day levels. The cost to the NHS of 44 days of strike action last year was around £3 billion, according to the NHS Confederation, and this enormous cost is now also being weaponised by the movement. Dr Ryan told The Sunday Times: 'We know how much the strikes last time were disruptive to patient care and the waiting list, but we also know exactly how much they cost the government, and it was more than what it would cost to get to full pay restoration. 'Last time we ended up coordinating some action and it was immensely disruptive for patient care, and we can see that on the horizon for this Government too.'
