Brian Rose

Captained Somerset and played nine Tests for England before becoming chairman of cricket at Somerset, a post he left in 2012.

I’ve had several falls over the past 18 months because I was suffering from a loss of balance. I spent two or three occasions in hospital, once with a fractured skull and another with inflammation.

If you’re not physically able to do anything that becomes hard to cope; financially, too, if you’ve still got a mortgage to pay. And as well as not being able to move I was also going in to have major dental surgery. I had serious problems with my teeth falling out, so trying to speak at a team meeting, for example, became almost hilarious.

If you have no teeth and you can’t move, you have a big problem. You can’t work for too long, and you start losing contracts.

Initially, the mental problem was a big one to overcome. I understand people who have had depression and mental problems much better now. Everybody in all forms of life needs help. The quicker you can talk to someone, the better it is. Once you get help from professionals it makes a huge difference.

Once the interpretation came from my dental surgeon back to the PCA, it only took days to sort out. It has been a big change. I have gone out more; I could not do an interview like this as I would have been lisping and too embarrassed to talk because of not having any teeth. Being able to confront the problems I have had is quite something for me.

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‘Something in me wanted to not die. I swam back up, even though this rock was heavy to lift’