COMING BACK TO ME

It has been seven years since Marcus Trescothick last played international cricket, and while he has missed it, he has never regretted quitting. This season was the first in which his form fell short of the standard which, if he wanted, would put him in the running for a place in the Test team. He scored more than 1,250 first-class runs in every summer between 2007 to 2011, his average was invariably over 50 and often up near 80. England wanted him back, would have welcomed him back. In 2009, Kevin Pietersen and Peter Moores both tried to persuade him to come out of retirement. But he has been busy fighting harder battles than those between bat and ball.

"I'll sometimes watch England on TV," Trescothick says, "and think how much I would love to be involved. But no, I don't regret my decision at all. It wasn't about playing cricket. It was far bigger than that." He won over 200 caps for England and scored 26 international centuries. Impressive as his career with country and county has been, he made a more precious contribution to cricket with his book, Coming Back to Me, in which he opened up about his depression. Few sportspeople have done more to improve the public understanding of mental health or so much to make it easier for people with mental health problems .

Writing that book took a different kind of courage. "I was so nervous," Trescothick says, thinking back to 2008. "I didn't know what people were going to think or say, so I was always expecting the worst. Especially with the condition I was in at the time." Scott Boswell, who bowled that infamous, wide-strewn, over to Trescothick in the 2001 C&G final, has spoken about how he felt unable to talk to anyone about his subsequent depression – "I'm a man and men don't do those things." Trescothick had similar worries about the response he would get. Would he be scorned? Sledged? A man has to be brave to bat against the best but braver still to lay himself bare as he did.

When Trescothick flew home from India, England's management had said he was suffering from "personal problems", a piece of obfuscation which only made his life harder. "That made it a two-way problem. Not only was I getting stick for it but the England management were too because it put us in a place where someone was telling a lie and that made it very hard work." The book was born out of a desire to set the record straight, stop the scurrilous gossip that was swirling around the circuit.

Trescothick remembers that Richard Bevan, the former chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, told him that "when you talk about it, a lot of good will come from it". He wasn't convinced. His collaborator, the Mail on Sunday journalist Peter Hayter, also had to urge him along. "It took that little bit of time and a little bit of thumping, just to get it going." When he did, the response was overwhelming. There was no stigma, only sympathy and support. "The impact of it was so completely different to what I expected. We said at the time that 'if this helps one person then that's brilliant'. But the volume of letters I have had has been amazing, really."

Jason Ratcliffe, the assistant chief executive of the PCA, explains that "Marcus was almost the first in any sport to say 'I have a problem and by the way that is OK'. He has given people the confidence to come out and say 'I am struggling as well.'" Players, Ratcliffe, says, tend to only listen to other players. And because Trescothick was so well-respected, they paid attention to him, particularly because he had always seemed so uncomplicated and easy-going. Since he wrote Coming Back To Me, Mike Yardy, Steve Davies, and Tim Ambrose have all spoken about their own illnesses. Trescothick, the PCA, and the wider community around the game can be proud of the work the have done to shed light on the issue.

In 2011, when Yardy pulled out of the World Cup squad, England's response was entirely at odds with the way they had handled Trescothick's illness. They were honest about the reasons why and explained that Yardy was returning home to get the "best possible help and support to overcome an illness he has been managing for a long period of time". As Trescothick says, "everybody had learned from the situation".

We are still learning. Trescothick, who relied on the PCA for help himself, has taken a leading role in their ongoing campaigns to raise awareness and improve understanding. He presented their Mind Matters series of videos and has just written a foreword for Tim Cantopher's book Depression: Curse of the Strong. The PCA has sent a copy to all its member. "I try and educate people as much as I can from my own experience," he says. "For me, trying to hide what I was going through was a lot harder than telling the truth. Speaking about it was what made the difference, because it meant I didn't have to cower away from it." When he first took over as Somerset captain he was "having a tough time again". He came out and told his team-mates. "I was able to say, 'lads, I have to miss training this afternoon because I have to go and see a counsellor'."

Sharing it, speaking about it, made it easier. "There were no more questions asked. Because they knew, they didn't go around saying 'what's going on? Why is he acting like this?' Instead, when they saw me they said: 'How did you get on yesterday? Is there anything we can do to help?'" Now he always encourages people with depression to be open about it. "I speak to people all the time who are in the same situation and they won't say anything about it to anyone. I understand why. They are scared, they don't want people to know."

"As players," Trescothick says, "it is so easy for us take so much for granted because we have a great lifestyle and we are doing a job that we love. We play against each other every day of the week, and we have big battles, rivalries, but sometimes it is only when something goes drastically wrong that you realise how many friends you have, how strong the cricket family is." It is not just depression. Trescothick is about to take part in a 450-mile bike ride from Durham to London to raise money for the Tom Maynard Trust and the PCA Benevolent Fund, "which is there for whenever something goes wrong. Whether it is a housing problem, a debt problem, a gambling problem, a drug problem. I learned this the hard way but I know now that you don't have to go through this alone. No one does."

• Marcus Trescothick is cycling from Durham to Lord's to raise money for the PCA Benevolent Fund and Tom Maynard Trust. To make a donation, visit this page.

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