When Greg Todd was lying on the University Oval, screaming in pain, the last thing he would have wanted to do was look back.
If he had, he would have seen his foot pointing in the opposite direction.
Todd fell while trying to field the ball off his own bowling and badly broke his leg.
For anyone watching, the sight of his grotesquely twisted foot was sickening.
But that was nearly four years ago, and now when the big left-hander looks back he wonders whether it was the best thing that could have happened in terms of his cricket career.
"In a funny way it has probably helped my cricket," Todd said.
"It has made me concentrate more on my batting, and I was able to fix a few faults that I had while I was out with the injury."
Before the accident, Todd was used as a change bowler to help break partnerships or slow the momentum of the opposition.
These days, the 27-year-old's bowling is mostly limited to the nets, although he would like to rediscover that part of his game.
"If I can bowl 10 overs, and even five or six in the one-dayers, then it allows us to play another batsman or another bowler."
While a few overs would be useful for the mix of the side, Todd's main role for Otago is to score runs at the top of the innings.
A dogged and gritty cricketer, Todd, who should bring up 50 first-class appearances this summer, quickly established himself in the line-up shortly after arriving from Central Districts in 2004-05.
He scored 552 runs at an average of 39.42 in his first season for Otago, and in five seasons he has scored 2213 runs at an average of 40.98, including four 100s and 11 50s.
It is a very good record and one which has perhaps not attracted the attention it deserves.
While he has quietly racked up some impressive numbers, the likes of Aaron Redmond and Neil Broom have conspired to keep his name off the national selectors' lips.
In 30 matches, Redmond has scored 1954 runs at 41.57, and Broom has scored 1870 runs at 42.50 in 31 matches.
Both have gone on to represent the Black Caps and play for New Zealand A sides, while Todd has had to sit by and watch his team-mates get all the opportunities.
"We've scored the same amount of runs and I haven't made an A team yet, so that would probably be my first goal.
"Obviously, I'd like to push for higher honours if I have a decent season."
Otago opens its Plunket Shield campaign against Northern Districts at the University Oval on Tuesday and with Black Caps Redmond, Broom, Nathan McCullum, Brendon McCullum and Ian Butler all unavailable, extra pressure will go on the likes of Todd and skipper Craig Cumming to keep an inexperienced top order together.
"This is my sixth year with Otago and it is up to us to lead from the front, especially during the early season while our guys are away.
It is important we do well."
Of late, Otago has had plenty of success in the limited-over formats of the game but has struggled to transfer that form to the four-day game.
The team has scored enough runs to win matches, but taking 20 wickets has been the stumbling block.
"It is one thing we have talked about this season," Todd said.
"We need to turn that one-day form into four-day form, because we've finished fourth, fifth and sixth in the last three years and we shouldn't finish that low with our team.
"Maybe that's a bit of complacency, thinking our one-day form will turn into four-day form without doing the hard work."
While the four-day game still carries the most prestige within cricketing circles, the twenty/20 tournament is increasingly important, especially with a place in the lucrative Champions League up for grabs.
Otago won the twenty/20 title last season and shapes as the team to beat again.
Pakistan all-rounder Yasir Arafat joins the line-up for the limited-overs phase of the summer.
He replaces hard-hitting England international Dimitri Mascarenhas.
The twenty/20 tournament takes place in January during a break in the the Black Caps' international season, so Otago will have a formidable line-up.
The one-day format has been rejigged, with fewer round-robin matches and an extended play-off series.
Otago won the one-day competition in 2007-08 and made the final last season, but it might struggle to reach the final again with so many key personnel likely to be on national duty.
Greg Todd
Otago record
First-class: 35 matches, 2213 runs at 40.98 including four 100s and 11 50s, 8 wickets at 78.50
One-dayers: 49 matches, 1130 runs at 28.25 including six 50s, 10 wickets at 30.20
Twenty/20: 17 matches, 341 runs at 28.41
• Todd played three youth tests and one-day matches for New Zealand Under-19 against South Africa Under-19 in February 2001. Otago's Brendon McCullum and Ian Butler were also in that side.
