The first victim of this greedy game

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The reaction to Marcus Trescothick's sudden departure from Australia has been huge, and perhaps the most worrying article comes from Geoff Boycott , a man who played more than a hundred Tests for England. In his Daily Telegraph column he warns that what happened to Trescothick is the tip of the iceberg.

It is just the beginning – more players will crack up in the future. There is a quick and easy way of stopping this happening but it would involve the game's administrators taking the one step that they dread – cutting back on the amount of international cricket.

Sadly the game is led by people with one thing on their minds – making lots of money. They are no doubt well-meaning people who love the game, but they lack one quality – the experience of playing at the top level.

International cricket brings in millions of pounds and there is no way the game's administrators will stop their money-grabbing ways. It means players are being worked into the ground and the burden of playing non-stop cricket is taking its toll.

And Boycott makes an interesting observation as to why things are worse now than when he played.

But people who appear to have everything do sometimes struggle to handle the pressure and that is why famous people go off the rails. A normal person can turn to a cigarette or a beer when things get too much but for an international cricketer this is not an option.

In the past you would get away from it all by playing county cricket, which was fun. You would be back with your mates, you would have a laugh and relax a bit. The modern player doesn't play county cricket. It has been replaced by an endless round of international matches, so they don't get a chance to unwind.

David Foot writes in The Guardian "loneliness hits hardest of all, even for cricketers, in crowded places".

And it was in a sweaty dressing room, wedged in with the coffins and enforced bonhomie of ambitious sportsmen - most of them with their own, varying neuroses just below the surface - that Marcus Trescothick told himself it was time to go.

He has never been gregarious or sharply animated in repartee. He likes a joke but leaves the telling to others. On occasions he has given the impression that he enjoyed the game more with his school chums when playing for Keynsham second XI, with his dad Martyn as the gentle counsellor and his mum suggesting the batsmen get on with it as the tea steamed in the big enamel pot ...

He may not be the most cerebral member of the tour party but, as a light sleeper, he has been pondering for hours the expectations facing a key and most experienced opening batsman pledged to retain the Ashes. He is a worrier. The nerves have been gnawing away at him, however much he has suggested otherwise.

Christopher Martin-Jenkins writes in The Times Trescothick's international career is almost certainly over.

Back to The Daily Telegraph where Derek Pringle writes the selection was a gamble waiting to fail".

Peter Roebuck, a former west countryman, in The Age, says that there should be much sympathy for Trescothick's position but that there has always been a certain unease about him.

Eventually Trescothick began to fray at the edges. Every sportsman will recognise the signs. Every sportsman is more vulnerable than he pretends. That is why the Australians had not the slightest intention of teasing the west countryman.

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