Dizzy spells: McAndrew's focus fixed amid serious ear issue

As Nathan McAndrew landed back in Adelaide from his UK County stint last winter, he had plenty of reasons to feel just about invincible. 

Four months earlier, he had led South Australia to the promised land of a Sheffield Shield title, en route collecting a competition-leading 40 wickets at 20.20. In England, he had taken eight wickets in two County games for Sussex before leading their wicket-takers list in the T20 competition with 23 (striking every 12 balls). 

The right-armer had just turned 32, and was already turning his thoughts to the 2025-26 pre-season, more domestic domination, and maybe even higher honours.

Then things changed quickly. 

"The day after I got back, I went down with a virus," McAndrew tells cricket.com.au. "I was dizzy, throwing up."

McAndrew was unwell but he wasn't immediately alarmed about it. Fit, youthful and strong, he figured it was something he'd picked up on the flight that he would shake quickly enough. Yet it wasn't long before he realised that his symptoms weren't those typical attached to a virus. 

"Ninety per cent of the time, (a virus) just sits on your lungs and you're out of breath," he says. "But this one attacked my vestibular nerve – which I'd never heard of, but it's in your inner ear, and a very big part of controlling your balance."

The medical diagnosis was vestibular neuritis, which caused nerve damage in McAndrew's inner ear. The upshot of that? A constant vertigo-like sensation that has included dizziness, blurry vision, and heavy headaches. 

Seven months on from that initial virus, it remains a constant issue he is simply forcing himself to play through. 

"Every time I turn my head, my vision bounces," he said. "So when I'm running into bowl, the stumps are bouncing."

Which brings into sharp focus the quality of McAndrew's performances this summer. Against Victoria last October, he took a career-best 5-23 in the one-day cup competition, and two months later he claimed his 150th Shield victim to move into the top 20 on the state's all-time wicket-takers list. Among that group, his strike-rate of 48.42 is comfortably the best.

It was the Big Bash period he found most difficult. In seven matches travelling around the country with Sydney Thunder, playing in sweltering high summer conditions, he took eight wickets, but his RPO ballooned out to 11.09 – more than two runs above his career mark of 9.01. 

"Big Bash was really tough," he says. "The heat and humidity … and playing at night, I probably shouldn't have – and once we were out for the Thunder, I stopped playing because it was just too hard. 

"At least in red-ball cricket, you know (the batter is) going to stand still, whereas if you're bowling in the Power Surge, and you're trying to look at their feet for a yorker, but their feet are moving, they're moving … it was just not a very pleasant experience."

McAndrew though prides himself on his ability to toil in trying circumstances. He is hoping some downtime in the off-season will accelerate his recovery, as nerve damage can be slow to repair.

But the healing will have to wait. Since his BBL struggles, he has bounced back in style, capturing 13 wickets in two Shield matches to shoulder a South Australia attack currently without Brendan Doggett (hamstring), Wes Agar (back), Spencer Johnson (back) and Henry Thornton (finger).

And the carrot at the end of the summer is a particularly enticing one: no South Australian side has ever gone back-to-back in the Shield. It is more than enough to keep him soldiering on through the constant discomfort. 

"There's not much you can really do to manage it, other than just time off, which in the middle of a four-day game, you don't get," he says. "So you've just got to crack on and deal with what you've got. It's not been the easiest."

Sheffield Shield 2025-26 standings

Team	Matches played M	Wins W	Losses L	Drawn D	No results N/R	Deductions Ded.	Batting Bonus Bat	Bowling Bonus Bowl	Total points PTS
1 Victoria Men VIC	8	6	2	0	0	0	7.46	7.3	50.76
2 Queensland Bulls QLD	8	3	3	2	0	0	8.18	6.2	34.38
3 South Australia Men SA	8	3	2	3	0	0	4.83	7.6	33.43
4 Tasmanian Tigers Men TAS	7	3	3	1	0	2	3.73	6	26.73
5 NSW Men NSW	7	2	3	2	0	0	4.67	5.9	24.57
6 Western Australia Men WA	8	1	5	2	0	0	1.99	7.2	17.19

Legend

M: Matches played

W: Wins

L: Losses

D: Drawn

N/R: No results

Ded.: Deductions

Bat: Batting Bonus

Bowl: Bowling Bonus

PTS: Total points