WHEN keen footballer Jeff Gore had his left leg amputated after an operation went wrong, he could have been forgiven for thinking his sporting career was over.

But 20 years later he is still making his mark on the local sporting scene - as one of the leading lights in the second XI at St Helens Cricket Club.

And the 34-year-old wicketkeeper/batsman has made such an impression that he recently made his first team debut for the Windleshaw Road outfit.

Jeff, originally from Prescot but now living in Rainhill, is also a member of the Lancashire squad which is currently enjoying a successful season in the disabled county championship.

Manager of a recycling company in Rainford, former Prescot Comprehensive pupil Jeff has refused to allow his disability to get him down, despite losing his left leg as a teenager when surgery to lengthen his thighbone went tragically wrong.

Before the operation he had been a keen footballer. But when his soccer career was brought to an abrupt end, he turned his hand to cricket - and with remarkable results, thanks in no small part to his talent, courage and keen sense of humour!

Jeff told the Star: "The lads at St Helens have nicknamed me The Whelk, after the one-footed mollusc, and the fact that I have only got one leg has become something of a 'standing' joke at the club. Whenever I have a shower I can guarantee that my artificial leg will go missing and I have to hop around the changing room until I find it!"

But on Sunday, August 22 it will be back down to the serious business of bidding to win the disabled county championship when Jeff lines up for Lancashire against Glamorgan.

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