Michael Yardy's battle with depression should act as a warning to administrators, says England's Matt Prior

Prior and Yardy are Sussex team-mates and have played cricket together since childhood. Yardy’s decision to return home before England’s World Cup quarter-final due to depression surprised many, but not Prior, who knew the extent of the problems afflicting the spin bowler.

“I spoke to him when we got back [from the World Cup] and it has hit him hard,” said Prior. “We have played cricket together since we were 12 so to watch him go through that was horrific. I know he made the right decision and I am proud of the decision he made because it wasn’t easy to leave at that stage.

“I believe it shows the strength of his character that he was a big enough person to say, ‘No, I can’t carry on and I need to deal with this’. I back him wholeheartedly to come back stronger.”

No date has been set for Yardy’s return but he is training again at Sussex and is expected to feature over the next couple of weeks.

The intensive winter schedule has been partly blamed for exacerbating Yardy’s condition, which follows the international retirement of Marcus Trescothick after suffering a stress-related illness.

Prior, who played in all forms of the game for England last winter, believes changes have to be made to prevent other players from suffering burn-out issues.

“I don’t think it is any coincidence that two England players have struggled with it,” he said. “Being away from home for 5½ months is a long time and is very taxing when you are playing so much.

“You are also involved in an intense environment and for that length of time it is exhausting physically and mentally. I believe there will be more issues if you have as intensive a schedule as we have just had. There will be more cases of injury or illness and something has to change.”

The winter’s toll on Prior was physical, with a shoulder injury an unwanted memento of the Ashes series. He jarred his left shoulder during the Adelaide Test and has had injections in order to be fit for the summer. He is due to return for Sussex against Nottinghamshire on May 10.

“I am sure it will be fine but I think it is one of those things I will have to live with for the rest of my career,” he said. “The thing that hurts is what I do for a living, which is diving. It is just one of those things I will have to manage and maintain.”

Prior’s position as England’s Test wicketkeeper is assured following another consistent winter but a World Cup which featured a lack of runs may limit him to one form of the game this summer.

“There is always someone else,” he said. “I will be working as hard as I can to be involved. You can look at batting and keeping stats but I also know what I bring to the team as well and that is something I have a lot of belief in.”

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Shane Warne: let Ricky Ponting be the judge of when he should retire from international cricket with Australia

There are only three options: for him to remain as captain, to resign and continue only as a player, or no more Ricky Ponting.

One thing is certain, Ricky deserves to go out in the manner of his own choosing and I would wait a while for the dust to settle before anyone makes a big decision.

He will want to discuss with the players and the people he respects before coming up with the right answer. Only Ricky Ponting knows what that answer will be.

When you are in the middle of a series or tournament, surrounded by players and in the team environment you never look at it with an outsider’s view. You don’t listen to the media and you don’t think 'this could be my last game’.

The only factors to concentrate on are your own form and game. That is not to say retirement is not at the back of your mind. There are moments when you think about what is the right thing to do and you want to go out on your own terms and on a high. That will be uppermost in Ricky’s thoughts.

He has been around long enough and will have an instinct about what to do. But there are two factors – the heart and mind. If both are saying the same thing then it is easy to make the right decision. If he has conflict, that is when he will need to sit back and take stock to work out what is the best way forward.

As a player your main concern is that you must be good enough to be picked in the team on performance. Then it is about whether you have the energy, drive and patience to put in the work and amount of time required to stay at the top.

One question you need to ask yourself whatever you are doing in life is 'am I enjoying myself?’ If you are not enjoying what you are doing it is time to do something else. If the answer is 'yes’ and it still feels like you can perform and have something to offer then there is no reason to go anywhere.

When you retire as a player who has achieved and been one of the greats like Ricky, it is not easy to let go of something that has been a big part of your life for 15 years. The reason I retired is because the enjoyment stopped. It was not just about playing cricket. It was about time away from family, friends and living a certain lifestyle after 20 years of first-class cricket.

I was not prepared to put in the hours of sponsors’ appearances, scrutiny and judgment or getting up to play day in day out when your body is hurting and sore. I never saw cricket as a job. It was a hobby to me. My most important job was to be the best father I could possibly be to my children. Anyone who plays cricket at any level probably thinks “how can you not enjoy it?”

Playing cricket for Australia should be fun but if it becomes a grind and you don’t want to go to work, because that is the way you suddenly see it, then it is time to do something different.

A lot of great players do not go out on their own terms. That leads to a bit of regret and frustration. But when people go out on top there is satisfaction and the best piece of advice I received when thinking about retirement came from Ian Chappell. His words were “The only hint I will give you is to make sure they say to you 'why are you retiring?’ rather than 'why don’t you retire?’.” Once he said that I thought 'yes I am doing the right thing’.

Ricky’s future is part of a wider debate for Australian cricket. There is a bit of soul searching and honesty to be addressed by every player, selector, coach and Cricket Australia.

There is no disgrace losing to India in India. Their only two defeats in the World Cup were against a Pakistan team on fire and India so there is no shame in the way they played in the sub-continent and we do not need to make rash decisions right now. We can wait until after the short tour of Bangladesh in early April.

But if you put this World Cup performance in context of the Australian summer of losing the Ashes then soon we will have to sit down and have a good chat about the future to work out the best way to regain the number one spot in the world.

Who are the players, leaders, coaching staff to steer the team in the future? There are two ways to go. Don’t change a thing or, after a break, regroup and strive to improve.

Let’s have a chat with the right people and work out not what is best for players, selectors or coaching staff but the right thing for Australian cricket.

Australia have led the world in preparation, processes and domestic cricket. Those things have held Australian cricket in good stead for a long time but nobody stays number one forever. Other teams have just caught up.

Now we have to decide if it is time to inject different people or different tactics. Those are questions that need to be answered but not in a blind panic. Australian cricket must weigh it all up after some time out.

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