Maynard praises Trust for counselling support

Somerset Director of Cricket Matthew Maynard has praised the support he and his family received from the Professional Cricketers’ Trust following the death of his son Tom in 2012.

The Trust supported Maynard with counselling to help him deal with the grief that followed the death of Tom, a Surrey and former Glamorgan batsman. Maynard can still call on the help of his counsellor at any time but similar support is also available to other immediate members of his family.

Maynard, the former Glamorgan and England batsman and England’s batting coach under Duncan Fletcher, has now appeared in a new film which promotes the varied work of the players’ charity, to encourage other past and present cricketers to use it if they need help.

“You need to talk, you need that avenue of communication and that channel is very helpful. Speaking to a counsellor about Tom really helps. And it continues to be very beneficial. I still have dark days but I know that I can always pick up the phone and speak to someone if I need to,” Maynard said.

“And the Trust will not just help the one person who has played cricket: it will look after the whole family. It’s about learning to cope and manage with what we have gone through.

“I fell out of love with cricket but through the Professional Cricketers’ Trust I have got that love back. You want to help people become the best people and cricketers they can be.”

The new film has been released to support the PCA Legacy Year Appeal which aims to mark the 50th anniversary of the PCA by raising £ 250,000 for the Professional Cricketers’ Trust.

The organisation was established in 2000 to support past and present professional cricketers and their immediate family members in times of hardship or to readjust to the world beyond cricket.

The network of support includes a confidential helpline, which operates 24 hours-a-day, to help current and former cricketers and their immediate family deal with problems such as drink, drugs or gambling dependency, family issues, bereavement and depression.

In the new film Maynard discusses the moment police informed him that Tom had been found on electrified railway line in London and the dark thoughts he had in the days that followed.

“We had a knock on the door in the morning. I was upstairs and my daughter knocked on my door and said the police were here. They told us there had been an accident and Tom was dead. They were very blunt about it. And then it was on the news channels on TV and very soon everyone knew about it.

“We went down to west Wales to a friend’s caravan and had a few days down there, just walking, going to the beach. Just to try and comprehend what had happened. But what are the options? They’re drastic. The options are that you consider taking your own life. To think that we would never see him again was horrendous.

“Alcohol helped, I suppose, but I don’t think you can deal with something so life-changing to you as a family. But you do see who your true friends are at those times, those people who are there for you and seem to just listen.”

To help the Professional Cricketers’ Trust to continue providing wide-ranging support you can visit the website or donate £10 by texting ‘CRICKET’ to 70085.