{"id":296666,"date":"2023-11-30T11:24:59","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T11:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=296666"},"modified":"2023-11-30T11:24:59","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T11:24:59","slug":"ricky-ellcock-reveals-the-trauma-of-his-career-ending-back-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/%d1%81ricket\/ricky-ellcock-reveals-the-trauma-of-his-career-ending-back-injury\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricky Ellcock reveals the trauma of his career-ending back injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>England&#8217;s flying star who crashed to earth! Ricky Ellcock reveals the trauma of his career-ending back injury and the plane accident that left him in a coma<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ricky Ellcock&#8217;s England career was curtailed before it started through an injury<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The former Worcestershire and Middlesex man then pursued a career as a pilot<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The pacer was plucked from Barbados on a scholarship from an English school\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Ricky Ellcock has no doubts about the pace that earned him a call-up almost out of nowhere when England chose to fight West Indian fire at its most intense with fire of their own.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I could bowl as quickly as anybody, I\u2019m sure of that,\u2019 said the former Worcestershire and Middlesex man. \u2018There weren\u2019t many people taking liberties against me.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It started at school and my pace progressed really quickly. There were no speed guns then but people knew. Even now when I see Chris Broad he reminds me of a spell I once bowled at him at Uxbridge. It was frightening for me never mind him!\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It is a memory tinged with sadness because Ellcock\u2019s arrival in the big time for that pioneering tour of the Caribbean under Graham Gooch and Micky Stewart in 1990 came to an abrupt end even before it had started because of a serious back injury.<\/p>\n<p>And it was to trigger a chain of events for a man plucked out of a humble upbringing in Barbados at 15 by a scholarship from a leading English public school that led to the very top in two contrasting professions only for both to be seriously affected by adversity.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/30\/10\/78412479-0-image-m-18_1701338849753.jpg\" height=\"447\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ricardo &#8216;Ricky&#8217;Ellcock is confident that he had the pace to match any other fast bowlers<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/30\/10\/78413563-0-image-a-23_1701338892948.jpg\" height=\"392\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/30\/10\/78413565-0-image-m-22_1701338887028.jpg\" height=\"392\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Ellcock was on the books at Middlesex and Worcestershire but was cruelly robbed of an England career<\/p>\n<p>Now, at 58, and finally recovered from a traumatic brain injury while pursuing his second career as a pilot that nearly killed him, Ellcock is telling his remarkable story of extreme twin peaks of triumph and disaster in an autobiography 30 years in the writing.<\/p>\n<p>It charts his early years in Redmans Village before being spotted by Malvern College and his rapid rise to the brink of Test cricket and a dream return to the Caribbean before his sporting life was cut short and culminated in depression and thoughts of taking his own life.<\/p>\n<p>Then, after picking himself up and becoming so successful in his new life in aviation he became Virgin Atlantic\u2019s first black captain, he cheated death after a freak injury suffered falling down the stairs of his 747 after piloting a flight back from his native Barbados.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout it all Ellcock has had to overcome massive odds, from being the only black boy at Malvern to scepticism in county cricket over the authenticity of his serious back issues and experiencing racism and prejudice in reaching both his professional twin peaks.<\/p>\n<p>It has, then, been quite a life. \u2018It\u2019s been a massive rollercoaster,\u2019 he tells Mail Sport ahead of the publication of \u2018Balls to Fly \u2013 an autobiography\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019ve had some incredible highs. Coming to an English boarding school from Barbados. Making my first-class debut at 17 while I was still at school. Being selected for England. You can\u2019t get any higher than that. Then of course the lows. But I wouldn\u2019t change them.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>It is, of course, cricket that made his name and that elevation to the highest level along with another Caribbean-born speedster in Devon Malcolm for a tour 33 years ago that saw England so nearly beat a still great West Indian team on their own patch.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I never really thought about playing for England until I arrived at Middlesex. Then it occurred to me it was possible,\u2019 says Ellcock. \u2018But when I was told I had been picked I didn\u2019t believe it. And I would be going back to the Caribbean where all my family and friends were.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/30\/10\/78413561-0-image-a-24_1701339071311.jpg\" height=\"776\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ellcock (back left) was selected as part of a five-pronged pace attack unit for the tour of West Indies 1989-90 (Pictured back left-right: Ellcock, Angus Fraser, Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small and Phillip DeFreitas)<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I turned up in Barbados with the England team and I can\u2019t tell you how excited everybody there was for me. I lived a hundred yards from Desmond Haynes. I could shout across at his house from mine. And now here I was going to bowl at him in a Test match.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But it all came crashing down. That\u2019s how sport is. I never even got to play in a warm-up game. They were thinking about selection for the first Test in Jamaica and I was giving my all in a net session in St Lucia and just knew I was struggling with my back.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I remember Geoff Boycott writing an article saying it was all in my mind and, okay, he was coming at it from the outside and didn\u2019t know but at that stage I was in serious pain.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I was so desperate I considered anything to ease it. I took myself off to an acupuncture session because somebody said it might help. Micky Stewart went mad when he found out somebody had been sticking needles in me. I even put WD40 on my back much to the amazement of my room-mate Nasser Hussain. In my position you\u2019d try anything.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But after all this the pain was still there. It got worse and worse until eventually I just had to stop. I knew it was the end of the tour. It went on to be a great series and England gave West Indies a real run for their money. But I had to watch it all from a hospital bed.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Ellcock never did fully recover and after two operations for serious stress fractures he had to retire with so much promise unfulfilled. \u2018It was devastating,\u2019 he says. \u2018I still have cold sweats thinking about it. It\u2019s every boy\u2019s dream and to get to that level and not be quite able to do it was hard. I still feel it now more than 30 years later.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was the toughest time of my life. I couldn\u2019t tell you the amount of days I thought \u2018do you know what, I\u2019ll just jump in front of a train.\u2019 It was so tough and my health suffered.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I had bad headaches. I had no peripheral vision. My heart was always thumping. I thought I had a brain tumour but my wife\u2019s mum was a doctor and did some tests. She said I was suffering from depression.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/30\/10\/78413573-0-image-a-25_1701339085568.jpg\" height=\"501\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>After retiring from cricket Ellcock spent 20 years in command at Virgin as a commercial pilot<\/p>\n<p>Ellcock\u2019s lifeline was a fascination for planes from a young age that had seen him earn a private pilot\u2019s license when he was still playing cricket. Now he was to put it to good use.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was a hobby but I started researching how I was going to become a commercial pilot,\u2019 he says. \u2018I found out I was good at it. I could do the academic stuff and had good co-ordination to be able to fly. I progressed really quickly.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>His recovery from the devastation of a lost career in cricket was complete when, in 1997, Ellcock reached the very top with one of the world\u2019s biggest airlines. But there was to be another totally unexpected, freak twist to his tale after 20 years in command at Virgin.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I remember the flight because two old cricketers I knew in Dave Smith and Alan Wells had been on it and had come up to the cock pit when we landed to say hello,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018But as I came out of the plane I lost my footing and fell all the way down the stairs. I hurt my knee badly but I don\u2019t remember banging my head. They said later the brain injury could have been caused by all the shaking as I fell.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Ellcock returned to flying but clearly something was wrong, culminating in him declaring an emergency during a flight to Heathrow from Los Angeles when he could barely move and was unable to land the plane. It turned out the trauma of falling down the stairs four years earlier had caused a subdural haematoma in his brain.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I cheated death four times because it took four operations to cure the problem,\u2019 he says now. \u2018There was a time I had a seizure in a toilet at the hospital when I thought it was the end. I couldn\u2019t move or speak and people were trying to get in but the door was locked.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018I thought \u2018I\u2019m not going to die in a toilet\u2019. I rolled myself towards the door, managed to unlock it and it flew open. Then nurses turned up. I was in a coma for four days.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Recovery has been long and Ellcock is still a year away from regaining his pilot\u2019s license but he wants to return so he can \u2018end it on my terms not the whim of an injury.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/30\/10\/78413705-0-image-a-35_1701339220979.jpg\" height=\"471\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ellcock&#8217;s eventful life has given him plenty to write about, as he also reveals shocking examples of racism he endured throughout his life<\/p>\n<p>It has all given him plenty to write about in a book he began while still playing cricket and ends now with him revealing the shocking examples of racism he has endured throughout his life while stopping short of naming people involved.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018It was important to include those instances because they have been part of my story,\u2019 he says. \u2018But I didn\u2019t want the focus to be on people\u2019s names because the point of the book is not to cancel anybody. The point is that this stuff happens \u2013 and plenty of people saw it without putting their hands up \u2013 and we want to try to learn from it and eradicate it. It\u2019s still there but it is getting better.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>His life is better again, too. \u2018I do know I\u2019ve been extremely fortunate in so many ways,\u2019 he says before adding, with a smile, \u2018but I do wish I could have played just one Test. Whenever I see Dessie Haynes I still tell him I would have got him out on that 1990 tour\u2026.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Balls to Fly is OUT NOW and available here. Mail Sport readers can enter the code <span>MAILBOOKS<\/span> at the checkout to receive a 20 per cent discount<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cricket\/article-12809163\/England-Ricky-Ellcock-injury-plane-accident.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>England&#8217;s flying star who crashed to earth! Ricky Ellcock reveals the trauma of his career-ending back injury and the plane accident that left him in <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/%d1%81ricket\/ricky-ellcock-reveals-the-trauma-of-his-career-ending-back-injury\/\" title=\"Ricky Ellcock reveals the trauma of his career-ending back injury\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ricky Ellcock reveals the trauma of his career-ending back injury - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/\u0441ricket\/ricky-ellcock-reveals-the-trauma-of-his-career-ending-back-injury\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ricky Ellcock reveals the trauma of his career-ending back injury - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"England&#8217;s flying star who crashed to earth! 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