Shaun Udal: Ex-England spinner shares Parkinson's sleeping troubles

A former England cricketer who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease said sharing his problems on social media has helped him feel less alone.

Shaun Udal, who was also a spinner for Hampshire and Middlesex, has tweeted during the night when his condition prevents him sleeping.

"We need to make people aware of how violently bad this disease can be and what it does to you," he told the BBC.

Udal retired in 2010, after taking more than 800 first-class wickets.

He was diagnosed with the progressive neurological condition in 2019 aged 49 after falling down an entire flight of stairs.

Udal said when he was given the news "I didn't know what to do".

"I was sat there for an hour and a half in shock, tears rolling down my face," he said.

The period that followed included the Covid pandemic, and losing three people close to him in close succession; his mother, his brother, and his friend Shane Warne.

He said: "I didn't know how to cope, and I needed good friends around me.

"[Warne] turned up to my 50th birthday out of the blue and I told him that night [I had Parkinson's], and he just said 'well we're going to get through this together'.

"That's the sort of person he was. I miss him daily."

Source: NHS

Udal said night times were "particularly tough", and has posted about his sleeping problems on Twitter.

"I get woken up at two in the morning in pain," he recalls.

"I can't get rid of the pain, I'm banging on the floor, whacking the door, walking around the house like a grumpy old wotsit, but I can't go to sleep.

"The pain's so bad you can't get the rest your body needs... and it's a vicious circle."

He said the responses he received to his tweets had helped him, and in turn others, and that there had been "lovely messages".

"It brings us all together a bit more... that helped me a little bit, knowing I'm not the only one who's got Parkinson's," he said.

Farnborough-born Udal played four Tests in 2005 and 2006 and 11 one-day internationals between 1994 and 2005.

His finest hour of cricket career may have been a four-wicket haul in Mumbai, India, helping an injury-hit England to a 212-run victory.

It was England's first Test win in the country for 21 years.

Udal said now his dream was to "bowl one or two overs in a game properly".

"It may sound simple but it's a big thing for me," he explained.

"I could then probably face the fact that my cricket is finished, but at least I finished bowling OK."

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