Andy Moles, Afghanistan’s director of cricket and former Warwickshire opener, had his left leg amputated below the knee in April, but now plans to walk 10km to raise funds for the Professional Cricketers’ Trust.
Moles, who has coached Afghanistan at international and Under-19 level before taking on director of cricket role, had been battling infection on his left foot since summer last year, and was left with no option but to amputate. He now has “half a mechanical leg – a peg leg, basically” but will soon move to a carbon fibre prosthetic.
The trouble started when in Abu Dhabi last year, where Afghanistan were preparing for a series against Bangladesh. Moles walked five kilometres in 47-degree heat, which took some skin off the sole of his left foot.
Andy Moles absolutely shines out in these difficult times.He had to face up to losing his lower leg just 10wks ago. This pic brings a tear to my eye. Talk about taking the positive out of a tough situation Well done Moler @PCA 10k challenge here you come @WarwickshireCCC 🐻 pic.twitter.com/jZs6iqce0o
— Tim Munton (@TimMunton2) June 8, 2020
It became infected, and even though it healed over five months, the infection returned and wasn’t responding to antibiotics. “It turned out I’d contracted an MRSA bug in hospital,” he told Sportsmail. “It was resistant to antibiotics, and kept chewing away the flesh on my foot.”
Eventually, earlier this year, when doctors told him he ran the risk of septicaemia, he decided to go ahead with the amputation. “Then on April 4, I remember it vividly, a specialist came to me and said, ‘You’ve been fighting this for 10 days. If we don’t take drastic action, it could spread up the leg, and you could even get septicaemia,’” Moles said.
“I had about half an hour of feeling sorry for myself, and a wobble of the bottom lip. But I was in hospital around the time the Covid lockdown in South Africa started [he lives in Cape Town], and one or two bodies were already being wheeled out.
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Andy Moles is director of cricket of Afghanistan[/caption]
“The reality is I would only be missing a lower left limb. Is it going to stop me walking? No. Will it stop me coaching? No. I just have to learn how to be mobile. I’m a very positive person.”
Moles now wants to help others, and has pledged to walk 10km next month, with the aid of a frame, as part of the PCT’s #charity10for10challenge. He hopes every professional cricketer, past and present, can do their own version of the challenge and donate £10 each to the PCT, which has been badly hit during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The game as a whole has been very kind to me,’ said Moles. “I thought I was bullet-proof back in the day when I was opening the batting, and I got to play with guys like Lara and Allan Donald.
“Now I’ve got injured, the PCT have come to my aid. They have been magnificent. I just have to be patient, which isn’t easy for me.”
