Second Innings: On men, mental health and cricket

A reflection on Barry Nicholls’ life, Second Innings, explores the author’s struggle with mental health and the road to recovery, using his love of the game of cricket to make sense of it all.

Set partly in the present, Second Innings includes flashbacks through five decades of life and focuses particularly on the lives of the men across the generations of Barry Nicholls’ own family, and tells the story of Barry’s journey from teacher to print journalist to broadcaster. Second Innings shows what can happen when long-term unresolved anxiety takes hold and it demonstrates the value of finding compassionate and understanding medical professionals who provide a path toward the light when all seems lost. As Greg Chappell helps teach this writer, in life there is always a second innings.