Cricket Allrounder Michael Yardy Retired Hurt with Depression

Michael Howard Yardy, popularly known as Michael Yardy was born on 27 November 1980 in Pembury, Kent, England. He is a famous Cricket player from England. He is an English cricketer. He is a left handed batsman and a slow left arm bowler. He has been seen as an all-rounder for his equal performance with both bat and the ball.

In July 2015, Yardy announced that he will retire from the International cricket by the end of ongoing season. His action of bowling was similar to Australian Darren Lehmann. He debuted in the year 2005-2006 when he as selected in the 14 man squad for the ICC Champions trophy.

Cricket achievements of Yardy

Yardy made his international debut with Twenty20 International game against Pakistan in August 2006 and in ODI's in September 2006, again against Pakistan. His performance in both the matches was excellent with the ball. In his ten overs in ODI against Pakistan, Yardy took 3-24 which were the best bowling figures for any player from England on debut.

How Yardy Suffered from Depression

According to Yardy, his tight schedules and back to back series made a huge toll on his personal life. Constantly visiting new countries and performing there and then go back to another country was affecting the otherwise healthy mental well-being. Everyone wanted to be with Family, but after sometime, you start to travel alone. The team is with you, but still there are only me moments where you feel the solitude and this is what kills the patience and desire to stay afloat.

This condition affects those with underlying depression far worse than the ones who do not have a depressive condition. Yardy had left the series in between for the sake of his mental health. He was not the first England cricketer to do so, before him, Marcus Trescothick had done the same and he has documented his ordeal in a well explained book. This bought the inner issues which an International level player faces, although he has all the taboo and manhood at stake. Depression is not something which you can pull away from with time or situation. It is there and will be there until and unless you target it with proper treatment and therapy. It can strike you indiscriminately. There are people who are successful and still they face the void of depression.

As per him, when Marcus left the tour in between, although it was a big blow for the England team, it turned out good for the person individually who was able to pull away from the sufferings and take the right treatment for his illness.

What is depression in Yardy's words

Yardy has told in one of the interviews that “I don’t think I should keep it quiet, I’m not embarrassed or ashamed about what happened. It is like an injury something like I had a thigh muscle pull, etc.” Even people like Geoffrey Boycott mentioned that his departure from India was because he was not able to take criticism.

Yardy started to notice his condition in the year 2008, while he was 28. You become tremendous actor and learn how to feign your inner feelings - inside you feel like deep in sorrow and outside, you wear a mask of happy, sane man. He took time to come out of the game. Now on depression he feels that things are moving on the recovery path and they will only get better from here. There is no way, he will let the same ordeal happen to him again and will stick to the treatment and therapy schedules.