Jordan Cox opens up about painful appendix operation

England's right-handed batter Jordon Cox has earned his maiden call-up to the England national team for the upcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, despite recently undergoing an appendix operation.

Cox, who was named in the 14-member squad following Zak Crawley's unfortunate finger injury, recalled the operation that could have jeopardized his career. 

"I was in hospital for three hours. At midnight, they were like, 'we need to operate - now.' The surgeon told me it was going to be an eight-to-twelve week process. That would have ruled me out of the Hundred, which was quite upsetting,” Cox said.

Despite the doctors' advice for a two to three-month recovery period, Cox pushed himself back into action for the Hundred Men’s competition, representing the Oval Invincibles. 

His dedication paid off, as he received the unexpected news of his Test call-up during a morning walk, missing the initial call from the selectors.

Cox's return to cricket has not been without challenges. He has played two matches since his recovery, scoring 29 runs at an average of 14.50 and a strike-rate of 93.54. He admits to still feeling some discomfort around his hamstring. 

"One of the stitches hadn't dissolved yet, so it's still pulling on my hamstring. It feels like every time I overextend that muscle, there's a little 'ping' but I've been to have an MRI scan and the surgeons have said it's not going to do any further harm," he said.

The Test call-up came as a surprise to Cox, who had been eyeing opportunities in England's ODI and T20I squads. 

"I definitely didn't think the call was going to be for the Test side. I thought I was a lot closer to the white-ball side of things - to get a call for, hopefully, all three formats would be pretty awesome,” he concluded.

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood