Five cricketers who took break from cricket due to mental illness

Jun 24, 2016 at 7:11 PM

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Five cricketers who took break from cricket due to mental illness

Cricket is a tough game. It requires determination, devotion, and tireless practice. Indian batsman Virat Kohli once said you get bored with your fitness work and have to do the same thing on a daily basis.

In international cricket, scoring runs is not the only thing. At a difficult time, when a cricketer is out of form he should have the temperament to come back in the team with outstanding performances. Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly did it, Virender Sehwag after his nightmarish debut he was dropped. But in his Test debut match against South Africa, he made hundred in his comeback match.

The motivation and courage are part and parcel of the game, one athlete should have a temperament to endure struggling period. But English cricketers are different, they often bid cricket goodbye because after some good performances they can’t cope up with bad performance, as ECB selectors turn their and look towards young cricketers.

Here are five English cricketers who took a break from cricket even before their career peaked. 

Sarah Taylor: Recently, the 27-year-old England womens team’s promising wicketkeeper-batsman Sarah Taylor took a break from cricket due to anxiety. She had a very bad World T20 tour in India. She scored 49 runs at an average of 9.80. After her lackluster performance, she understood that England and Wales Cricket Board selectors (ECB) will not select her for the Pakistan series at home.

She is currently undergoing cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to get rid of mental disorder.  However, this is not the first time Taylor took a break from cricket. In 2010 he took a four months break from cricket.  She missed the Ashes.

England selector Mark Robinson recently forced Women team’s captain Charlotte Edwards to take a call on her 10 years long illustrated career.

Taylor, after Edwards’ retirement, understood she is no more going to be selected. But she is sure will back in international cricket.  She said,  “I would like to say that I am 99 percent sure that I will play again,” she added. “I want to put an England shirt back on and train with the girls, I miss them terribly.”   

 

Michael Yardy:

The England and Sussex cricketer Michael Yardy had suffered  eight years of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  For Yardy it was “intrusive thoughts” that drained him during improbably successful career.  During the  2011 World Cup before the quarterfinal game, he was sent back to England.

He said that during the practice session he was left like a “zombie”. Yardy in his biography  “Hard Yards” mentioned a moment of 2008 when he used to feel insecure in the night. He was staying with his family in Lathlain in Australia. “ramming chairs and tables against bolted doors” to keep out imaginary intruders.

Yardy failed to go to bed and cry a lot as he failed to defy his “intrusive thoughts”. His own trouble left him to pursue a degree in Sports Physiology.

 

Jonathan Trott:

In recent time, Jonathan Trott had emerged as the most talented middle order batsman in England cricket. He was a late bloomer, but , his batting at the top order was a reassuring site in England cricket. But in the Ashes in Australia after the Brisbane Test, he was afraid of Mitchell Johnson’s thunderous short balls. He left the series midway and returned home with mental illness. England team director Andy Flower bemoaned Trott’s sudden loss of charm.

After going through the medication he attempted a comeback in 2014, but his discomfort towards the short ball appeared more prevailing.  However after the break, he made a strong comeback in Royal London ODI tournament. But his international return didn’t materialize.

Marcus Trescothick:

He was a prolific left-handed batsman. He was an automatic choice for England in limited-overs and Test cricket. But mental illness pulled down curtains over an outstanding talent. He played 76 Test matches and 123 ODIs.  He was the part of England 2005 Ashes win. He amassed 431 runs that summer.  But mental illness forced him to retire from international cricket on his 30th birthday in 2008 when he came to India with England team, but had to go back with a mental disorder. However, he continued with his county cricket job.  His form rewards him another one-year contract with Somerset. At 40, he is still playing cricket.

Nick Compton:

He is the new inclusion in this list.  He has taken a break from cricket due to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) on 23rd June 2016.The rising England batsman found himself in the boiling cauldron   after his lean patch against Sri Lanka. In the last ten matches, he scored 117 runs with a highest score 22. In the just concluded Sri Lanka series, he scored only 51 runs in five innings.

But before the Sri Lanka series he played a match-winning innings against South Africa. In the Durban Test, he scored 85 and 49 in tricky conditions at Kingsmead that helped England to win the Test by 241 runs.  Compton realised  that his Test career is over. England selectors will not pick him for the Pakistan series.

Compton will turn 33 before the start of the first Test against Pakistan on July 14.  He has played 16 Test matches so far at an average of 28.70.

Compton, who shaped his career to prove himself throughout his career, now somehow lost his motivation.  His mind and body both are tired with his long struggle.

 

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