Having had a heart-to-heart phone conversation with Stokes, Root continued to explain publicly: “The call will stay between the two of us but for me it was hard to see a friend like that. More than anything I just want him to be okay and I’ll be there for him as much as he wants.
“Anyone who knows Ben, knows he always puts other people in front of himself. Now is an opportunity for him to put himself first, to take time to look after himself and get to a good place again. Hopefully that can be sooner rather than later. Cricket has to be a secondary thought, a long way down the line, and he should take as much time as he needs.”
Experiencing periods of bad mental health is a common occurrence that will happen to many individuals during their lifetime, but according to cricket coach Lindsay Moody, who worked with Root at the age of 12, and had a short career in Sussex’s 2nd XI, worries that parental expectation is making both depression and anxiety in cricket players far worse, with players under almost unbearable pressure to perform.
Moody, who is also a qualified mental health first-aider, said in a 2018 interview: “The pressure from their parents, and their peers, is huge. If you win a few matches and do well it’s enormous for the kid; but the devastation on their faces when the district or performance squad is whittled down from 120 boys to 80 boys is massive. For some of them it’s the end of the world.
