England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes has taken an indefinite break from the game with immediate effect to ‘prioritize his mental wellbeing’ and withdrawn from the home Test series against India starting next week.
In a statement, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has also mentioned that Stokes has taken the break to also rest his left index finger.
“Ben has shown tremendous courage to open up about his feelings and wellbeing. Our primary focus has always been and will continue to be the mental health and welfare of all of our people,” said Managing Director of England men’s cricket, Ashley Giles.
“The demands on our athletes to prepare and play elite sport are relentless in a typical environment, but the ongoing pandemic has acutely compounded this. Spending significant amounts of time away from family, with minimal freedoms, is extremely challenging. The cumulative effect of operating almost continuously in these environments over the last 16 months has had a major impact on everyone’s wellbeing.” He added.
Stokes, 30, will be replaced in the squad by Somerset’s Craig Overton, the ECB said.
Cricketers priortizing mental health
The mental health of cricketers has become one of the most important aspects of the game. Especially in COVID times, where players have to follow a strict protocol and play in bio-bubbles for months. And it’s hard for the players to be away from their families for long periods.
Many cricketers and athletes over the world have taken a break to prioritize their mental being. Recently, India skipper Virat Kohli had made it clear that mental health management will become a norm if cricket is continued to be played in bio-bubbles with players requiring breaks to ‘disconnect from the game’.
“I’ve gone through a phase in my career where I felt like it was the end of the world. In England 2014, I didn’t know what to do, what to say to anyone. And how to speak, and how to communicate. And to be honest, I couldn’t have said I’m not feeling great mentally. I need to get away from the game. Because you never know how that’s taken.” said Virat
Australian cricketer Glenn Maxwell also took a break from the game in 2019 to focus on mental health. He said living in a bio bubble is mentally challenging.
“It is very difficult. The stresses around that, especially when you are traveling. You are stuck in kind of a nightmare where you are reliving the same day over and over again. You start to become a bit sheltered from the outside world. And you sort of forget how to have normal conversations with people outside. That can be very hard mentally and it is something which is a massive challenge for the cricketers.”
Many ex-cricketers have shown support for Ben Stokes. Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen said:
“It was quite interesting because when he [Stokes] got asked a question about his finger the other night, his response was not your normal response… it was like there was something more. I hope he’s OK – he’s a fabulous cricketer, one of the best in the world at the moment.”