Sarah Taylor thanks England for mental health approach on partial return
Sarah Taylor says the England and Wales Cricket Board has been “unbelievably brilliant” in helping her deal with her anxiety issues, after she returned to the national team for part of their upcoming tour to the subcontinent.
Taylor will play in the three one-day internationals against India in Mumbai at the end of February, but will return home while the rest of the squad heads to Guwahati for three Twenty20 internationals in March.
The rest of the squad will fly to Sri Lanka for another three ODIs and three T20 matches but Taylor will miss that leg of the tour as she continues to manage the problems that led to her missing the recent World T20 tournament in the West Indies.
“Mark Robinson [the England head coach] has set the bar for dealing with players and individuals with mental health or any kind of life problems,” Taylor said. “He wants the best out of the players so if it helps them perform on the pitch, he will try as much as he possibly can. I don’t know about anyone else so I can’t compare but I’d like to think the ECB are leading in that. They’ve been unbelievably brilliant, I couldn’t have asked for more. They’ve backed me in every sense.”
This will be the first time Taylor has played abroad with England since the 2017 Ashes in Australia, and it was after a previous tour to India that she first took a break from playing cricket due to anxiety. “It’ll be a tough tour but I’ll be buzzing as soon as I finish it, hopefully,” she said.
“We look at potential mental health triggers of mine, and internal flights is one,” she said, when asked how she determines for what to make herself available. “With Mumbai, it’s obviously a straight flight there and straight flight back.
“We travel business class, so with international flights you can have your own space, but with internal flights you obviously don’t get that sort of luxury. If you have a panic attack you don’t want to be surrounded by people. That’s just the fear of it, and obviously it will get easier and easier.
“If I’m in a good place mentally you can probably see it on the field. I’ve always been that sort of player, if I’m in a good place I will play well. I hope now that I’ve got the balance right and the cricket can take care of itself.”
Robinson was fully behind Taylor’s decision to only play part of the tour. “To do the whole of India would be a big ask, to do half of it would be really good,” he said. “From our point of view we’d love her to be at the next World Cup in Australia, but hopefully she’ll be ready for a busy season first with the West Indies, then Australia [for the Ashes, this summer in England].”
Katherine Brunt, who missed the World T20 with a back injury, returns to the squad and will be available for all six games in India, but will also not play in Sri Lanka.