A FORMER England Test cricketer and Basingstoke business owner has spoken about “some really dark days” as he adjusts to living with Parkinson’s disease.

Speaking outside Old Basing Cricket Club in a video filmed for Professional Cricketers’ Trust, which supports members and their immediate families, 54-year-old Udal said after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2019 “there were some really dark days”.

He added: “If I didn’t have the Professional Cricketers’ Trust’s support from the start then I, big thing to say, but I don’t think I’d be here.”

Read more: Former England cricketer from Basingstoke Shaun Udal in A&E

A month before turning 50, in February 2019, Udal was informed by post that he had been diagnosed with the degenerative and incurable condition, which causes pain in his muscles.

Udal said the diagnosis was made even harder by the loss of his mother during Covid, following the sudden deaths of his brother and his close friend and ex-Hampshire teammate Shane Warne.

“There were some really dark days, some horrible thoughts went through my head, that obviously glad I never did, but I’m not ashamed to say that – it was bloody tough though,” he said, adding that the death of Warne “knocked me back again”.

Udal, who is the managing director of Basingstoke business Cotton Graphics, has documented his journey with Parkinson’s on social media, previously sharing his fears that the condition may seriously deteriorate after his treatment was suspended during the pandemic.

 

 

He now has treatment for his muscles once a week and sees a counsellor to support him through the emotional trauma.

He said the Professional Cricketers’ Trust had helped him to “see sense” and that “there were things to live for”.

He added: “The more awareness they can get the better… Their help and support has been invaluable to me and my family and I’ll never ever forget that.”

Udal, whose career began in 1989, used to play for Hampshire and Middlesex and went on to play four Test and 11 ODI caps for England before he retired in 2010.