Many people would be thrilled to be good enough to play for their country at one sport. New Zealand's Jeff Wilson has been good enough to play at international level in two - rugby union and cricket. Between 1993 and 2001 Wilson played 60 Tests for the All-Blacks, scoring a record 44 tries and a total of 234 points. But before his rugby career took off he was a more-than-useful cricketer - playing for New Zealand's one-day cricket side four times - and he has just announced that he his quitting rugby to concentrate on reviving his cricket career.

If the announcement caught rugby officials on the hop - Wilson is still only 28 - it also surprised the cricket fraternity. Wilson's cricket career seemed history, and he hadn't played any first-class cricket since turning out for Otago in 1996-97 (in all he took 93 wickets in 26 first-class matches). Wilson was seen as a useful bowler who could bat, a brisk medium-pacer and a hard-hitting batsman (although something of a slow starter).

Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand's chairman of selectors, said that he was delighted at the news and felt that Wilson could re-ignite his cricket career. "We are quietly optimistic that he can come through and we would welcome that," said Hadlee, but he warned Wilson that he had some catching up to do. "Nine years is a long time to be out of international cricket. He will need to get his body back into cricket shape, which is different to rugby shape.

"We will watch his progress because he has four facets to his game: batting, bowling, fielding and attitude, and those sorts of multi-skilled cricketers are hard to find anywhere," said Hadlee. But he warned that there would be no storybook return in the short term. "Tours at the moment are totally out of the question. That would be unfair to other players. "

But Wilson's potential value to New Zealand is such that within hours of his announcement it was rumoured that he was to be invited to a four-day camp with other World Cup hopefuls in Darwin.

Cricket's gain will be rugby's loss. New Zealand Rugby Football Union chief executive officer David Rutherford said that Wilson's announcement was particularly sad. "Rugby fans around the country would acknowledge that he is still at the peak of his form," Rutherford said. "However, we respect his decision to pursue the other love of his life, cricket, and admire the fact that he wants to fully commit himself to it. Anything less than 100% commitment would not be Jeff Wilson. "

Apart from the on-field benefits to New Zealand cricket, Wilson is a high-profile sportsman and his return could signal an increase in sponsorship deals on offer. Already Gunn & Moore have expressed an interest in backing Wilson. "He likes the gear, so we'd obviously like the opportunity to talk to him," a spokesman said. "He's got a big job ahead, but who would doubt him to make it? And in our position, if you hold off you can miss the boat badly."

In a year which has seen two of their leading players - Dion Nash and Adam Parore - retire, the return of Wilson could not come at a better time for New Zealand cricket.

© Wisden CricInfo Ltd