Silence Of The Heart

Cricket has an alarming suicide rate. For 30 years, author David Frith has collected data on this sad subject. This is an account of over 100 cricketers - involving top names over 100 years - who have taken their own lives, with an explanation of factors which led to their premature deaths.Can the shocking rate of self-destruction among cricketers be reduced? Can those who run the game do something to save its participants from this dreadful fate? These are among the questions addressed within this catalogue of biographies. Another key area is the theory that cricket itself is to blame for its losses. Or is it that this summer game attracts people of a melancholic and over-sensitive nature? The author attempts to dispel this suggestion.Stoddart, Shrewsbury, Gimblett, Robertson-Glasgow, Bairstow, Trott, Iverson, Barnes - all high-profile cricketers who killed themselves. There remains a sense of disbelief that they did so.