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World Cup winner Alex Hartley has announced she is taking an indefinite break from cricket to focus on her mental health.
The left-arm spinner, part of the England side that beat India in the 50-over World Cup final at Lord’s in 2017, revealed the news on her BBC No Balls Podcast on Friday and wrote on Twitter on Saturday that it was “the hardest decision I have ever made”.
Hartley last played for England in 2019 but has continued to feature for North West Thunder in domestic cricket – she figured against Western Storm in the Charlotte Edwards Cup on May 21 – while she represented Welsh Fire for the first two editions of The Hundred.
The 29-year-old’s tweet read: “Stepping away from cricket has been the hardest decision I’ve ever made. Doing it for this little girl who fell in love with the game.
“Doesn’t mean it’s over, I have absolutely no doubt I’ll be back stronger than ever. Thank you for all the messages, they mean the world.”
Hartley had said on the podcast she co-hosts with Kate Cross that she had been “struggling mentally” for several months, lost confidence in herself and fallen out of love with the game.
She said: “I’ve stepped away and it might be for a month and it might be forever. I’m not putting a timeline on it because I don’t know how I’m going to feel tomorrow or the day after.
“I have felt like a different person, I have felt flat and I’ve not felt like that bubbly character that I normally am and that person that is excited to go to cricket.
“Every time I’ve pulled on my cricket shirt [recently], the best feeling has been at the end of the day when I can take it off again.
“I want to get back to that person that fell in love with cricket, is playing cricket because she enjoys it and at the minute, I’ve got no confidence.
“That person that stands at the end of their mark and believes she’s the best in the world. Right now I’m standing at the end of my mark going ‘anything could happen here’.”
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