Tresco: Batting while depressed is 'very hard'

Cricket365
November 25, 2013

Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick, one of the more high-profile and outspoken cricketers when it comes to dealing with mental illness, says Jonathan Trott's departure from the Ashes tour was probably a long time coming.

It was announced on Monday that Trott would leave Australia to deal with a 'stress-related illness' and would not be rejoining the tour in future. Trescothick, himself a sufferer of depression, said the disease probably contributed to Trott's poor form with the bat.

Trescothick, who left the Ashes tour in 2006/7 due to depression, told <i>Sky Sports</i>: "I think it probably can (explain it) a little bit. He didn't look himself, he didn't cope with the situation, he didn't deal with it.

"I can understand that and I sympathise. When I'm not right and I'm struggling with bits of depression, it's very hard to focus on your technique and watching the ball.

"You can only times that by 10 in the pressure cooker of an international game so it makes a little more sense now when you sit back and watch it."

He added: "You get to these points where you just can't take any more – you can't get through the day let alone go out there and bat and try to win or save a Test match.

"I've got to sympathise with Trotty, obviously, having been in exactly the same situation in 2006/07 – trying to make that decision and knowing all of the consequences and attention that it is going to bring on you is very, very tough.

"I think we need to allow him a little bit of time; that's the key at this point. I know that there is going to be a media scrum over the next couple of days but we just need to allow him that bit of time to get well again because your health is far more important than any game of cricket that we play.

"I've started tours sometimes feeling not in the right frame of mind but have managed to get through a certain little period to carry on and keep playing well.

"But clearly it has got too much. This is probably the biggest pressure environment that you can face in international cricket – going to Australia with the pressure of the Ashes and being put under scrutiny.

"It's a very hostile environment when the whole of the country is battering you left, right and centre. You want to give everything you can for your country to try and make it work but sometimes these things are just too big."

When asked if he thought David Warner's comments about Trott being 'scared' of the Australia bowlers in the first Test, and playing a 'poor and weak' shot to get out, would have affected the situation, the Somerset skipper said: "They wouldn't have helped, of course not but this isn't something that has just brewed overnight.

"This has been looming for a while. I'm sure the England management have been well aware of it for pretty much the preparation time of the series building up, but it has obviously come to a head now.

"There are always things that add to the problems and make things worse and they would be hoping that he could deal with them and move on.

"Andy Flower said already in the press conference that he has had these problems on and off for a while, as people do. It's not something that just generally crops up overnight – it tends to take a bit of time to manifest.

"This is an illness that one in three people deal with and it doesn't take into regard what job you do or where you live or what sort of house you've got."