A tale of English cricketers’ and their fight against depression and mental stress

A tale of English cricketers’ and their fight against depression and mental stress: Depression and Cricket are opposite to each other in such a manner that the latter is almost considered to be an antidote to the former. However, former England captain Andrew Flintoff’s startling revelation about his fight against depression is a testimony to the fact that being a star cricketer doesn’t necessarily guard you away from depression.

Flintoff was talented, jovial, and stubborn in his Cricket career. He was someone, who never hesitated to have heated exchange of words (sledging) with his opponents on fields. He also loved to hang out with his colleagues after the match. But the same Freddie is a completely transformed man these days.

The 37-year-old has recently revealed to the UK media that he did resort to drinking only to stay away from depression a few years back. However, when he found that it didn’t help, he stopped drinking further. He fought back the depression and enjoying his life well. Currently, the ex-cricketer is enjoying his stint as a popular Television personality.

This is not an isolated case. Many other cricketers have also faced the brunt of depression. Jonathan Trott, the former English cricketer, also went through such troubling times in his life. English and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) helped him greatly to come out of the problem.

Naseer Hussain, a well-known cricket commentator and former English captain, cited the immense amount of expectations and pressure to perform as the two foremost reasons why cricketers get caught within the maze of depressions so easily. ”Being a professional sportsman is like taking an exam every day with the whole world watching,” he stated to the UK media a few months back.

Mike Trescothick and Mike Yardy were the most unfortunate ones. They had to take untimely retirement from international cricket due to mental tension, depression and anxiety. While there is no universal remedy for depression as yet, but proper counseling and physical rest could definitely help a lot in this regard. Staying away from family for a long period of time also creates some emotional disturbances in players’ minds.

Graeme Fowler, a classic English cricketer of 80s era, was also a victim of depression in his post retirement days. “Cricket is such a bloody frustrating game. If you’re top order batsmen, you can be playing well, but then things start going wrong. And you start worrying about your place in the team being under threat and then your contract being under threat. Cricket buggers your mind up,” Fowler told the New Statesman, a couple of years back.

Although, talking about depression and other mental illness associated with the lives of English cricketers is quite common there, but the scene is completely different in India. A country where cricket is a religion and cricketers are treated as demi-gods, people rarely spare a thought about depression and anxieties that our cricketers encounter on almost daily basis.

Winning performance on the field is all that matters, but it is the same pressure to perform that creates depression and mental illness in the minds of cricketers. Hopefully, Cricket boards all across the globe will find an early solution to deal with the problem effectively, and help the cricketers lead a normal life, of the field and post retirement as well.