I know first hand how tough winters can be as a pro, that's why I'm doing my bit for the PCA this year

SIMON HUGHES' experiences in the winter of 1990 - a broken collarbone and fractured marriage - mean he is well placed to speak about the importance of the support charity in place for cricketers, which is down £250,000 this year

The Analyst Inside Cricket Club launches to support Professional Cricketers' Trust

It was mid-October 1990, 30 years ago.

I’d had my P45 from Middlesex at the end of September and handed back my sponsored car as most pros did. At least most winters I had six months of sun to look forward to playing in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa. But this winter there were fewer opportunities to play abroad so I was forced to stay at home.

I wasn’t looking forward to it. I did some radio – mostly football reporting for British Forces Broadcasting Services – and a bit of writing but I wasn’t good company for my new wife (we had been married six months). The winter made me glum and I didn’t achieve a lot. She was a busy lawyer and I spent a fair bit of time at home moping around. There was no one to talk to about it.

In Feburary I got invited on a trip to St Moritz to play a cricket match on the frozen lake. Probably seeking attention I accepted the challenge to go down the Cresta Run – an uncontrollable 60mph blot down a perilous bobsleigh run on a tea-tray – and broke my collarbone.

Now I couldn’t even attend winter nets.

By now my wife had had enough, and began staying late at work and once or twice failed to come home at all. I was suspicious and eventually we had it out. She admitted she was having an affair and wanted to leave. After discussing this late into the night in early April she packed her bags and left the following morning.

^{Simon Hughes and Simon Mann (centre, interviewing Rahul Dravid) are launching a live online cricket club in aid of the PCA}

This so happened to be the day of the Middlesex photocall – the day the press turn up and take headshots of the players and conduct little one to one interviews. It’s an important occasion. Because of my domestic situation I was an hour late.

"Late again Yozzer, where the hell have you been?" they said. "Run over a dog again?! Another blackbird trapped in the house?!"

"Look don’t start that!" I snapped. "I’ve got a serious reason this time – my wife has left me. She says she’s is in love with another man."

There was a brief silence while this information sank in. Then someone said: "Well you’re not exactly Richard Gere, are you?!"

There was no option but to laugh. You weren’t allowed to show any weakness or fallibility. You just had to get on with it. But it definitely affected my season, the last of my contract, and at the end of it I was released. I am not blaming my wife’s behaviour for the downturn in my career but it didn’t help.

The Professional Cricketers Trust provides life-changing - and often live-saving - assistance to professional cricketers and their immediate families. Support from the Trust can range from emotional counselling right through to the provision of specialist medical equipment and more.

JOIN THE ANALYST LIVE WITH JOE ROOT: Click here for more details

Since 2017, the Trust has supported 283 cases in the area of mental health alone, with a recent spike in demand due to rising anxiety around short-term contracts. Marcus Trescothick said: "The Professional Cricketers' Trust is a small charity that has saved and supported countless lives and due to the current climate is faced with a huge funding shortfall of over £200,000."

The Trust is relying on support from the wider cricket family to drive donations to navigate through the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Trying to do our bit, Simon Mann and I have created a virtual cricket club – a live streaming service on which we will interview leading players and invite attendees to ask questions and enter competitions to win signed memorabilia. The idea is to keep the cricket-fires burning – ie the conversation going – through what is going to be a tough winter for pros and amateurs alike.

Our first guests are the England captain Joe Root this Thursday (October 22) and Stuart Broad (October 29) who are giving their time for nothing in aid of the charity.

To join you pay £6 a month for four live events and exclusive membership. A decent proportion of your monthly fee is donated to the charity.

Please sign up and enjoy some entertaining and mutually beneficial evenings and perhaps save a cricketer’s soul.

Register by clicking here

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