How cricket stars deal with tragedies while on tour

There have been many players over the years have suffered the helpless ache that comes with losing a loved one while away. Peter Lalor takes a closer look after Pat Cummins’ tragic news.

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 family are, however, a close-knit one 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.

Pat Cummins has returned home to be with his terminally ill mother. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

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 wicket keeper 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 home summer in the last series against India.

The fast bowler entered the bio security bubble in order to play the four Tests of that Border Gavaskar Trophy conscious this was the last summer of his father Paul’s life.

In that case the man who had raised him and help school him in the game asked his son to take to the field rather than sit by his sick bed.

Brad Haddin and his daughter Mia during his playing days. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Starc, understandably, was not himself on the field that year and was criticised for his performance in some quarters. It was the most difficult of circumstances for the sensitive bowler who could not leave the bubble to be with his dad.

In the same series uncapped Indian player Mohammed Siraj was rocked by the sudden death of his father. Covid and distance meant he could not return in time for the funeral.

In their excellent new book, Miracle Makers, Bharat Sundaresan and Gaurav Joshi reveal the anguish he went through and the inspirational support of coach Ravi Shastri who told the distraught bowler that he would not only play on the tour, but he would take a five-wicket haul.

Shastri’s predictions proved correct. The first thing Siraj did when he got home was visit his father’s grave.

Tahlia McGrath spoke to News Corp during the Pink Test about her mother Linda’s battle with breast cancer. When she was on tour they spoke daily, when she was on the field she found a new perspective.

Tahlia McGrath’s mother has battled cancer. Picture: Marco Longari/AFP

“When I was playing cricket again the pressure of everything was gone, I was like ‘there is so much more to life than a game’,” McGrath said.

“I think it was a massive thing for my cricket, a turning point. I realised that I used to be so stressed about getting out for a duck in a game of cricket when there’s so many bigger things in life.”

One of the sadder tales is that of New Zealand batsman Bob Blair whose fiance, Nerissa Love was killed during the 1952 tour of South Africa.

Love was one of 151 victims killed in the Tangiwani rail disaster and when the news came through on Boxing Day Blair was so distraught he stayed behind in the hotel. A brutal spell of fast bowling saw two of the visitors retire hurt, including Bert Sutcliffe, who resumed with his head swathed in bandages.

Sutcliffe was at the crease when the 9th wicket fell and assumed the innings was over but Blair had heard of the team’s plight on the radio and travelled to the ground.

There was no way for the batsman to get home in time for the funeral so he remained in South Africa.

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.

Originally published as How cricket stars deal with tragedies while on tour