10 international cricketers who battled infirmities and continued their careers

Among all the fandom surrounding cricketers for their exploits on the field, there remain a few untold stories of personal struggles that captivate, thrill and inspire lives every now and then. Masters of the willow are, after all, of flesh and blood and therefore, not beyond the realm of pathological infirmities. It requires tremendous amounts of dedication, determination and spirit to fall, rise, dust up and run again. For where there’s a will, there’s bound to be a way.Here, we have a look at 10 inspirational cricketers who suffered from grueling illnesses throughout their playing careers, yet never lost the keenness to represent their country at the highest echelon of the sport.

#10 Michael Atherton (Ankylosing Spondylitis)

To dwell on medical battles and fitness struggles would mean dwelling upon the crippling disease that affected Russian Chess Champion Vladamir Kramnik as badly as rock guitarist Mick Mars and former England cricket captain Michael Atherton. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a mildly unknown disease among general practitioners in spite of the fact that its prevalence among athletes is moderately alarming.

AS is known in medical parlance as an autoimmune disease, which suggests that in this disease, the immune system of the body attacks its own cells. AS generally affects the spine and the muscles of the back, whereby the sufferer complains of a painful back, and is unable to stretch and adjust the muscles of the back.

Atherton was diagnosed with the disease in his 20s. The hereditary condition that had ended Atherton’s father Alan’s football career continued to haunt him throughout his career and persuaded him to get hydrocortisone injections every now and then into his sacroiliac joint. He, however, preferred to remain private about the matter, fearing the disease might affect popular opinion on his national captaincy.

The gritty batsman managed to carve out a decently successful and reasonably long international career in the face of all oddities. Limited drives, restricted movements of muscles and unrelenting pain could not dampen the spirits of a champion who fought on and emerged as an inspirational hero for the 70,000 Britons who are annually diagnosed with AS.