Alison Mitchell offers her deep sympathy to James Taylor and some words of support from Syd Lawrence
Cricketers cope with adversity in different ways. Time, so often a healer, usually puts a different perspective on events and situations, or frames our thinking with the benefit of wisdom gained over years. As James Taylor deals with both the immediate health ramifications of his rare congenital heart condition as well as the sudden loss of a sporting career only part-fulfilled, he is showing an unflappable stoicism via his twitter account.
A week ago he retweeted a post from Henry Fraser, a rugby-loving young man who was paralysed from the shoulders down after diving head first into shallow seawater in 2009 at the age of 17. The tweet said: “Life is much simpler and much happier when you look at everything you can do, rather than everything you can’t do.”
When I heard the news about Taylor’s sudden and shocking retirement, my mind went back to an in-depth interview he gave me at Lord’s on an overcast November day prior to his departure for the ODI series in Sri Lanka in 2014.
He spoke with conviction about the hard work he had put in to earn his first call-up to a touring party, three years after making his international debut against Ireland in Dublin. We discussed how he generates power from his short frame, and he spoke enthusiastically about hand speed, a strong base, rotation of the hips, and how he once swung so hard that he tore his side.
The conversation turned to his family background and his father Steve’s involvement in racing.
We talked specifically about his dad’s time as a National Hunt jockey and Taylor spoke in a convivial and matter-of-fact manner as he described how his father’s career panned out: “He had plenty of falls along the way, which led to him having to pack up his career very early. I think he was 27 when he finished.” Yes, 27.
The career of Taylor the jockey was, by all accounts, just starting to take off. It seems a cruel twist of like-father, like-son. Except that Taylor the cricketer has had to end his sporting career a year earlier at 26.
Our conversation led Taylor into talking about the support networks available for sportsmen who suffer career-ending injuries, and in particular the work of the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s benevolent fund, which helps cricketers past and present should they fall on hard times or suffer injury.
“Guys know they’ve got a safety net under them,” he said. “If something does happen – and it could happen tomorrow for me – they’re there to support you along the way.”
It could happen tomorrow for me. When he used those words he could never have imagined that only 18 months later his own career as a professional cricketer would be over, just as he was making headway in the Test side.
Former England and Gloucestershire fast bowler David ‘Syd’ Lawrence knows what it is like to have a promising cricket career cut unceremoniously short. His international career ended in the most excruciating and public fashion when his left kneecap fractured as he ran in to bowl in a Test against New Zealand in Wellington in 1992. It was his fifth Test appearance and, although he attempted a comeback with Gloucestershire in 1997, he never played for England again.
Lawrence was 28 at the time and he is now 52. Speaking to me for the BBC World Service cricket show Stumped, he offered some insight into the emotions he had to deal with back then and what challenges Taylor will face in the months ahead.
“It’s very difficult when retirement comes unexpectedly,” he said. “As sportsmen you always think you’re going to play until you’re 35, 38 or wherever. I think that’s the shock because you don’t plan for it. When you’re early on in your career and it’s out of your control I think it’s very hard to deal with.
“Even though I retired, I came back years later. I was never the same player though and subsequently I retired again. His (Taylor’s) situation is that unfortunately he’ll never be able to even consider coming back. His health is more important. It’s a bigger picture of long-term health for himself.
“It’s a very difficult situation and I feel for the young man. Such a great talent. But the support that you have – the ECB, PCA and obviously family and friends – those are the most important people around you at these kinds of times.”
Lawrence faced some mental demons as a result of his premature retirement, but he is glad the pastoral care around the game and understanding of mental health has moved forward immeasurably since then.
“You’re talking over 20 years ago. I probably had a bout of depression but didn’t know it was depression because back then it wasn’t really identified,” he said. “I just used to feel low. I couldn’t go to a cricket game because I thought if it wasn’t for my injury I’d be out there playing. So I had some really low and dark days but I just got on with it. It was difficult but I had my friends and family to help me through it
“The fact is, he (Taylor) knows that if it wasn’t for his condition he’d be fighting for an England place. That’s the biggest thing he’s going to have to overcome, that he will not be able to be out there again representing his country. It’s just been cruelly taken away from him. It’s not going to be easy.”
The abrupt end to a career and life ambition is beyond gutting for Taylor. The emotions, you hope, will eventually be tempered by the life-affirming fact that it is better to have discovered such a condition early than too late. He has a life still to be lived.
It is easy for us all to take our health for granted in the roller-coaster of day-to-day life. Only when it is compromised do we remember how important it is. And it is the most important thing for Taylor right now.
Alison Mitchell presents Stumped every week on the BBC World Service. Download the podcast at bbcworldservice.com/stumped
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday April 15 2016
