England all-rounder Ben Stokes has admitted that he is 'absolutely devastated' for teammate James Taylor after medical reasons forced him to retire at the age of 26.
Taylor revealed last week that he had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition and will require an operation, bringing an abrupt end to his playing career.
Speaking as he prepared to return to county cricket following a nightmare end to the World Twenty20 final in India earlier this month, Stokes admitted that he had been too upset to call Taylor after hearing the news.
"It shows there are a lot worse things that can happen than what happened to me in India," Stokes told The Sun. "It doesn't just put your cricket life into perspective, it puts your whole life into perspective. For him to almost just wake up and then his career be over is absolutely devastating.
"I sent him a text. I wasn't sure how to approach it, whether to ring him, but then I didn't think I'd be able to say much. It was a hard day to deal with. The only thing I could bring myself to do was just to send him a nice message and let him know we are all thinking of him.
"Obviously it is devastating news for him, but I think he is trying to look at it from the bright side. He is one of the lucky few who has managed to walk away with this condition. People lose lives to the disease that he got diagnosed with, so I think that is what he is trying to look at — the most important thing is that he managed to find out about it before it got worse."
Taylor has admitted that he has been "overwhelmed" by an outpouring of support following his diagnosis.
Neil Wilkes
