Our stars often face heartache
WHEN Tim Paine was at his lowest following his resignation from the Australian captaincy he received a text from spin legend Shane Warne.
“At the end of the day family is the most important thing, f..k everything else,” Warne wrote.
Paine recalled the message in the last lines of his book, The Price Paid. “Whatever I end up doing, I’ll live by that,” he concluded, admitting that the scandal which ended his career brought home to him how often cricketers put the game ahead of everything and everyone else.
Pat Cummins’ decision to remain in Sydney with his terminally ill mother, Maria, must have been a hard one. His side is down 2-0 and as captain he feels a responsibility to his players. The Cummins are, however, a close family and his place at this time is with them. It is, after all only a game. There have been many players over the years who have suffered the helpless ache that comes with losing a loved one while away, or knowing someone they love is struggling when they are not there.
Brad Haddin’s book My Family’s Keeper tells of the emotional roller coaster ride he and his family endured when daughter Mia was diagnosed with cancer while he was playing in the West Indies in 2012. The Australian wicketkeeper dropped everything and returned home.
“When Karina was on the other end of the line and said Mia’s got a tumour, I was switched off from cricket there,” he wrote.
“You spend your whole life challenging yourself to get better, trying to get your hands on that baggy green and leave the game in a better place, but it was that easy to drop,” he said later.
Haddin’s Test career ended when he withdrew from the Lord’s Test to be with his family when Mia became ill again in 2015.
Glenn McGrath struggled to balance the distractions of cricket and tragic circumstances of his first wife Jane’s terminal illness. She wanted him to play, he wanted to be there for her every moment he could.
Mitchell Starc, who will presumably take his place as a bowler in this series, endured a difficult summer in the last series against India. The fast bowler entered the biosecurity bubble to play the four Tests of that Border Gavaskar Trophy conscious this was the last summer of his father Paul’s life.
It pays to remember that the men and women who play the game are people with families, that no amount of success or wealth can compensate for the ache of not being there when you are needed.
Warne was right.