A DIFFERENT HEROISM..

A few days ago, I wrote about Marcus Trescothick courageously making the journey to India to help his county, Somerset, compete in the Champions League Twenty 20. I`m pretty sure that, like me, the whole of the cricket loving nation hoped that he might get through it and might have hoped that he could rise from the depths of his anxiety and play for England again. My, how we`ve missed him.

Sadly for us, Marcus was once again forced to return home prematurely despite his valliant attempt to deal with the depression and anxieties that have seen him abandon overseas tours in the past. But what struck me about his latest homecoming was the way it was received by the press, the media and `ordinary` cricket lovers like myself.

There was a time - not all that long ago - when Marcus would have been criticised for being weak willed, wimpish, not fit to wear the shirt and all the other instant condemnations that used to rain down on what was assumed to be human failure. But we know more now. We have grown up a bit. We understand a little more about mental difficulties, what brings them on, what they can do to people and how overwhelming they can be. And I suspect that at least some of that understanding is down to people like Marcus Trescothick, who have been open and honest about their situations. And because of his standing as a sporting hero, he has been able to bring those problems to the attention of a wider and more understanding audience. As a result, we no longer condemn, but we sympathise and we understand.

It has been hard for Marcus to have his problems aired so publicly but it seems to have been a conscious decision on his part not to hide, but to bring it out into the open so that he can avoid the dreadful alternatives that come with denial. He will always be a sporting hero - his record speaks for itself both as a player and as a man - but maybe he is also a hero of a different kind to have helped us all to be a little more tolerant and understanding than we once were.