Trescothick threw light on to the mental health problems in cricket, and we need better understanding more than ever
Time flies. It’s been 15 years since Marcus Trescothick last played for England, in a warmup match against New South Wales in November 2006. He broke down in the dressing room on the last day of the game – “All the same feelings of irrational fear, despair and panic came back in wave after bloody great wave” – and flew back to England that same evening. The team management described it as a “recurrence of a stress-related illness”. There were a lot of accusations, jokes and innuendoes, which were only put straight when Trescothick published his autobiography in 2008, and people at last began to understand how badly he was suffering.
It was a turning point for the sport. Right now Ben Stokes is on an indefinite break while he treats his mental health, and an entire Ashes tour has been in the balance – it is all set to go ahead, according to the latest reports – while his teammates have been trying to decide whether their employers could guarantee proper care and protection for their mental health. After Trescothick, after Mike Yardy, after Jonathan Trott, after Sarah Taylor, and so many others, you would think we’d all understand their argument by now. But the game has changed so much, so fast, not everyone does.
