Top five sports books to read over the monsoons

3. Marcus Trescothick – Coming Back to Me (Written with Peter Hayter)

It seemed a fairly regular occurrence to turn on the Ashes coverage this summer at 11.15am to find England with a batsman back in the hutch already, crawling along at a snail’s pace. On more than one occasion my mind cast back to the early noughties, to the days of Marcus Trescothick, where the Somerset skipper so often ensured England flew off the mark. Trescothick is undoubtedly one of the great batsman of his generation yet his autobiography sees the importance of cricket diminish to little more than a game.

Trescothick was in many respects a landmark case – a professional sportsman who suffered from depression, who courageously went public. Gone are the days when those suffering from mental illness in the game are branded as pansies as a result.

When Michael Yardy returned home early from a one day international tour a few years back, the support he received both from within and outside the game was notable. When Geoffrey Boycott made some disparaging remarks about his mental state, those in the game rapidly jumped to the defence of the Sussex man. Much of this is thanks to Trescothick.

Coming Back to Me may not be the best book you’ve ever read, yet it is one which has proved hugely important. In the same way that injury deprived another 2005 Ashes hero Simon Jones a fuller career with England, illness deprived Trescothick of the same. That is clearly extremely sad, yet his response to it has been nothing less than heroic.