I had considered hurting myself: Trescothick

Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick has revealed that he was on the verge of harming himself at one stage because of the depressions that curtailed his international cricket career.

"I had considered hurting myself because I wanted to show people how much pain I was in. If you break a leg, there is a cast on it to show you have broken it. But if you have a problem in your head, a mental problem, there is nothing evident to show that you need help," The Sun quoted Trescothick, as saying.

"I felt I needed some kind of physical mark but there was none for me and that is what makes it so hard for people who suffer mental illness," he added.

Trescothick was forced to head home from the England tours to India and Australia with stress-related illnesses.

"I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat properly, I couldn't drink. After two or three days I knew I could not stay any longer. People look at it as some kind of weakness but it's an illness," he said.

"You hear about people who commit suicide from it and I have a lot of sympathy for how they are feeling," he added.

Insisting that he has learned how to cope with depression, Trescothick says he can now even laugh at his new nickname.

"Team-mates don't call me Tresco any more or Slugger - they call me Madfish and I'm happy with that," he said.