Cricket is one of the best anti-depressants

I love it when the England cricket team flies east in the winter. It means they’re playing in the early morning, UK time, and that’s just when I need them the most. Because cricket is a powerful antidepressant.

The fireworks of Bazball have been lighting up the sky for nearly two years now, and as that period has coincided with war and economic doom, the on-field heroics of Ben Stokes and the gang have been particularly welcome. But, thrilling as last year’s Ashes undoubtedly were, they still took place in the summer, the time of year when depression is at its least potent. Come the dark days – in every sense – of January and February, and that’s when the beast really lurks. Especially pre-dawn. An early 4 a.m. start in India is just what the doctor ordered.

Without the sound or sight of bat on ball, early mornings at the moment would hold their usual threat, should you be of the type. Deprived of sunlight and vitamin D, you would be waking early, sick of the darkness, devoid of hope. Yes, you’d know that in a couple of hours there will be things you can do: get up, walk the dog, force the physical to rally the emotional. But for now, it would be low time.

With England in India, however, salvation is just a switch-flick away. Reach for the remote, or the radio, and there it is: your favourite sport. Test cricket is made for getting lost in – its ebbs and flows, its rhythms and subtleties take five whole days to play out. George Bernard Shaw was trying to sneer when he said his thing about the English, being not very spiritual, having invented cricket to give themselves some idea of eternity.