73
Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 21, 2019small knock but the repercussions have been huge
ED I COULDN’T
ING TO PANIC
@riathalsamcups. I went and the wheels
came off. All I can remember is
I was with a team-mate and
when I went to say something,
I suddenly realised I couldn’t
talk. I was starting to panic,
but it was near the end and I
just wanted to creep out with-
out making a scene.
‘I got home but my body sud-
denly went freezing and then
hot. The next thing I knew I had
passed out in my bathroom. I
called the team doctor and was
admitted to hospital in a rush.
I had a seizure there — the only
one I’ve had — and they kept
me in for a couple of days.’
Danson pauses. ‘I couldn’t
believe what was happening —
a couple of months after lead-
ing my country at a World Cup,
I couldn’t go to the bathroom
alone and I was in hospital
after a seizure.’
A scary aspect of Danson’s
injury and so many like it is
that it has never shown up on a
scan. There is a theory among
her doctors that there may
have been a bleed, but no
image has supported it. Like-
wise, it is hard to know if Dan-
son’s exertions after the trauma
contributed to the severity of
her subsequent difficulties.
The worst of the symptoms
only started to lessen in the
past eight weeks, nine to 10
months after the accident.
‘Light and noise have been
particularly bad,’ she says. ‘In
the first few months the sound
of putting down a coffee cup
made me physically unwell. Mybrother won’t mind me saying,
his voice is deep and quite loud
and so is his laugh, and I
remember begging him to stop
talking because it made the
headaches worse.
‘My body was constantly going
into fight or flight mode — it
couldn’t filter danger any more.
If Alex brushed against me
when I was asleep I would jump
because my body just wasn’t
able to filter what was safe.
‘Light has been very hard,
especially indoors. It is why I sit
facing away from the direct
light coming from the window.
Screens are also bad. I realised
that straight away and even
now I can’t do long stretches
with a phone, TV or tablet
without a major headache.’
Amid the restrictions, Danson
spent much of the last year
isolated, away from friends and
the sport she has contested at
international level for 18 years.
‘Heartbreaking,’ she says.
‘Every injury I got back aheadof schedule. This time, the
harder I tried the worse I got.
‘Eventually I learnt to stop
making short-term goals. With
the brain you can’t. You have to
go along with it and that has
meant being patient and being
away from an England team
that has been my life. There is
nothing that has been that mild
about my mild brain injury.’THE golden girls of Rio have
been holding December reun-
ions since that night when
they delayed the News at Ten.
Danson couldn’t go last year —
she was in bed.
Finally, the outlook is chang-
ing. This year she is sure she
will make it. Other things that
were once impossible have
started coming into focus.
‘After six months I got out for a
coffee, then I was able to start
with television, a bit of screen
time, gradually getting back in
contact with the world.’
Crucially, after 10 months, the
headaches started to lessen.
‘I still have them every day but
sometimes it can be a few
hours between them and I
can’t tell you how nice that is,’
she says, close to tears. ‘There
was a point when I would have
settled for being able to have a
life where I could just potter
around the house pain-free.’
The goals are now moving.
Danson knows she is nowhere
near where she needs to be to
play international sport — she
hasn’t sprinted or swung ahockey stick in a year. And yet
the mindset is determined.
‘I will play again,’ she says.
For Britain? ‘I think so.’ Tokyo?
‘That has to be the aim.’
It is an incredible target. But
that is why the resumption of
running 10 months after the
accident meant so much. ‘It is
being able to do something
that is vaguely like what I used
to do,’ she says. ‘Compared to a
training run with England it is
not even remotely the same —
it is more like a truffle-shuffle.
‘It leaves me with a bad head-
ache but I’m up to 20 minutes
continuous jogging and it just
feels so amazing to do it again.’
Her hero in getting to this
point has been Bennett, who
since the accident has become
her fiance. ‘He has done every-
thing for me,’ she says. They
will be married next month.
‘It was going to be the whole
shebang,’ Danson says. ‘But we
scaled it back. Anything big
and I might not have been able
to cope. It has been another
case of me having to manage
my expectations, but we will
get married and I know it will
be a great day.’
It remains to be seen if there
are to be more great days on
the hockey pitch. But for now, a
truffle-shuffle around a field
feels like excellent progress.
lAlex Danson is an Investec
ambassador. Investec support
women’s hockey from grass
roots to national team. For more
info visit investec.co.uk/hockey‘I kind of
laughed it off
awkwardly
but knew it
wasn’t right’
Hockey
PICTURES:ANDY
HOOPERCRICKET SCOREBOARDS
COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP
(Day 3 of 4, day 4 today 11am)
DIVISION ONE
Kent v Essex
CANTERBURY: Essex (19pts) beat
Kent (4) by three wkts.
KENT — 1st inns 226; 2nd inns
Z Crawley lbw b S Cook................. 3
S Dickson lbw b S Cook ................ 0
D Bell-Drummond c Harmer b Amir.. 4
*S Billings c Wheater b Amir ......... 0
H Kuhn c Wheater b S Cook .......... 5
†O Robinson c Westley b S Cook .... 2
D Stevens lbw b S Cook ................ 4
O Rayner lbw b S Cook.................. 9
H Podmore lbw b S Cook .............. 0
M Milnes b Porter ........................... 9
M Claydon not out.......................... 4
Extras ......................................... 0
Total (18.1 overs) ...................... 40
Bowling: Amir 7-2-16-2, S Cook
9-2-23-7, Porter 2.1-1-1-1.
ESSEX — 1st inns
(Overnight: 32-1)
A Cook lbw b Stevens .................. 12
T Westley lbw b Stevens.............. 17
D Lawrence lbw b Podmore ........... 0
R Bopara c Rayner b Podmore ...... 0
*R ten Doeschate lbw b Stevens ... 6
†A Wheater c Robinson b Podmore. 20
S Harmer lbw b Claydon ................ 5
M Amir c Kuhn b Rayner ................. 28
S Cook c Billings b Rayner............. 2
J Porter not out .............................. 0
Extras (b4, lb8, nb6) .................. 18
Total (47.3 overs) .................... 114
Bowling: Podmore 18-5-34-4,
Stevens 15-8-17-3, Milnes 7-1-24-0,
Claydon 4-0-20-1, Rayner 3.3-0-7-2.
2nd inns
N Browne c Crawley b Stevens ..... 3
A Cook c Rayner b Milnes ........... 29
T Westley b Claydon .................... 25
D Lawrence lbw b Milnes ............... 0
R Bopara c Robinson b Stevens .... 0
*R ten Doeschate c Robinson b Claydon. 17
†A Wheater not out ...................... 30
S Harmer lbw b Claydon .............. 30
M Amir not out ............................... 4
Extras (b3, lb3, w1, nb8) ........... 15
Total (7 wkts 42.1 overs) ......... 153
Bowling: Podmore 10-0-46-0,
Stevens 14-6-30-2, Milnes 11.1-1-50-2,
Claydon 7-1-21-3.
Surrey v Hampshire
KIA OVAL: Surrey lead by 123 runs.
HAMPSHIRE — 1st Inns 367
SURREY — 1st Inns
(Overnight: 109-2)
M Stoneman c Holland b Edwards 63
S Borthwick c Northeast b Edwards. 100
O Pope not out ........................... 176
A Finch c Organ b Stevenson ...... 90
*†B Foakes not out ...................... 12
Extras (b4, lb10, w7, nb12) ....... 33
Total (5 wkts 139 overs) .......... 490
Bowling: Edwards 20-1-106-4,
Abbott 23-6-72-0, Holland 23-3-66-0,
Dawson 49-8-154-0, Stevenson
22-1-70-1, Organ 2-0-8-0.
Warwickshire v Somerset
EDGBASTON: Somerset need 250
runs to beat Warwickshire.
WARWICKS — 1st Inns 419; 2nd inns
W Rhodes c Hildreth b Abell ........ 30
D Sibley lbw b Brooks .................... 9
R Yates lbw b J Overton............... 53
S Hain lbw b Abell .......................... 0
A Hose c Davies b Brooks ............. 7
†T Ambrose lbw b C Overton ...... 19
M Burgess c van der Merwe b J Overton. 0
H Brookes c Davies b J Overton ... 4
*J Patel lbw b Abell ........................ 8
O Hannon-Dalby c J Overton b Abell .. 5
G Garrett not out ............................ 6
Extras (lb5) .................................. 5
Total (50.4 overs) .................... 146
Bowling: C Overton 13-1-40-1,
Brooks 14-5-32-2, Abell 13.4-4-39-4,
J Overton 8-1-26-3, Bess 2-1-4-0.
SOMERSET — 1st inns
(Overnight: 167-5)
†S Davies c Rhodes b Patel ...... 109
D Bess not out ............................. 52
R van der Merwe c Ambrose b Rhodes. 1
C Overton lbw b Hannon-Dalby ... 36
J Overton c Yates b Brookes ....... 22
J Brooks c Hain b Rhodes ............. 0
Extras (lb11, nb12) .................... 23
Total (92 overs) ....................... 308
Bowling: Hannon-Dalby 20-3-65-3,
Brookes 13-0-69-2, Garrett 20-6-56-1,
Patel 26-8-70-1, Rhodes 13-4-37-3.
2nd inns
*T Abell not out .............................. 8
†S Davies not out ........................... 0
Extras ......................................... 0
Total (0 wkts 2.5 overs) ............... 8
Bowling: Hannon-Dalby 1.5-0-8-0,
Brookes 1-1-0-0.
Yorkshire v Notts
SCARBOROUGH: Notts need 252 to win
YORKS — 1st inns 232; 2nd inns
(Overnight: 177-2)
G Ballance c Sub b Wood ............ 61
*S Patterson c Nash b Coughlin .... 9
T Kohler-Cadmore lbw b Fletcher .. 59
H Brook c Ball b Patterson-White 18
†J Tattersall c Duckett b Fletcher .. 7
T Bresnan c Moores b Fletcher ..... 2
K Maharaj c & b Coughlin ............ 35
B Coad c Coughlin b Fletcher ...... 11
D Olivier not out ............................. 4
Extras (b8, lb2, w1, nb16) ......... 27
Total (101.3 overs) .................. 338
Bowling: Fletcher 27-6-67-5,
Wood 13-3-71-1, Ball 21-6-59-0,
Coughlin 18.3-4-58-2, Patterson-White
22-2-73-2.
NOTTS — 1st inns 184; 2nd inns
B Slater c Kohler-Cadmore b Olivier. 18
J Libby c Tattersall b Patterson ... 11
*C Nash lbw b Maharaj................. 30
J Clarke c Tattersall b Maharaj ...... 4
B Duckett not out ......................... 47
L Patterson-White not out ........... 16
Extras (b4, lb1, nb4) .................... 9
Total (4 wkts 42 overs) ............ 135
Bowling: Coad 6-2-7-0, Olivier 6-0-27-1,
Maharaj 15-3-59-2, Patterson 7-3-13-1,
Bresnan 6-2-21-0, Lyth 2-0-3-0.DIVISION TWO
Glamorgan v Lancashire
COLWYN BAY: Lancs (24pts) beat
Glam (4) by an inns and 150 runs.
GLAMORGAN — 1st inns 257; 2nd inns
N Selman lbw b Lamb .................. 18
C Hemphrey lbw b Lamb ............. 14
S Marsh lbw b Bailey...................... 9
D Lloyd c Vilas b Gleeson.............. 5
B Root c Vilas b Gleeson ............... 0
S Patel lbw b Mahmood ............... 22
*†C Cooke lbw b Mahmood ......... 41
G Wagg c Jones b Bailey ............... 9
R Smith b Mahmood ...................... 1
L Carey b Bailey ............................. 8
M Hogan not out ............................ 0
Extras (b4, lb5, nb2) .................. 11
Total (51.1 overs) .................... 138
Bowling: Bailey 15-5-44-3, Gleeson
12-4-24-2, Mahmood 13.1-3-42-3,
Lamb 11-3-19-2.
LANCASHIRE — 1st inns
(Overnight: 544-9)
S Mahmood c Lloyd b Patel ........... 8
R Gleeson not out .......................... 2
Extras (b7, lb16, nb2) ................ 25
Total (127.4 overs) .................. 545
Bowling: Hogan 24-7-64-2, Carey
22-2-125-1, Wagg 21-1-86-2, Smith
24-1-87-1, Patel 25.4-7-104-2, Lloyd
7-3-27-1, Hemphrey 4-0-29-0.
Northants v Worcs
NORTHAMPTON: Northants (22pts)
beat Worcs (2) by 10 wkts.
WORCS — 1st inns 186; 2nd inns
(Overnight: 42-4)
M Ali run out ................................. 40
*J Leach lbw b Keogh .................. 27
R Wessels not out ........................ 84
†B Cox b Pretorius ......................... 5
E Barnard lbw b Muzarabani ....... 18
W Parnell b Muzarabani................. 7
J Tongue c Wakely b Keogh .......... 2
Extras (b4, lb8, w5) ................... 17
Total (61.2 overs) .................... 223
Bowling: Sanderson 13-5-33-4,
Hutton 10-1-49-0, Pretorius 9-3-21-1,
Keogh 20.2-1-61-2, Muzarabani 9-0-47-2.
NORTHANTS — 1st inns 376; 2nd inns
B Curran not out .......................... 17
R Newton not out ......................... 17
Extras (nb2) ................................. 2
Total (0 wkts 4.3 overs) ............. 36
Bowling: Leach 2.3-0-17-0, Ali 2-0-19-0.
Sussex v Middlesex
HOVE: Sussex (22pts) beat Middle-
sex (3) by seven wkts.
MIDDLESEX — 1st inns 75; 2nd inns
(Overnight: 149-4)
S Robson c Finch b Robinson ..... 68
†J Simpson b Robinson .............. 89
J Harris c Brown b Robinson ....... 66
T Roland-Jones st Brown b Haines .. 11
N Sowter c Brown b Robinson ....... 0
S Finn c Carey b Wiese ............... 56
T Murtagh not out ........................ 25
Extras (lb8, nb4) ........................ 12
Total (112.2 overs) .................. 378
Bowling: Robinson 35-6-101-6,
Wiese 18.2-3-62-1, Haines 16-6-45-1,
Warner 13-1-62-1, Hooper 20.5-5-65-1,
Beer 6.1-1-19-0, Wells 3-0-16-0.
SUSSEX — 1st inns 309; 2nd inns
P Salt b Murtagh .......................... 10
L Wells not out ............................. 48
T Haines b Finn ............................ 11
H Finch c Eskinazi b Murtagh ........ 0
A Carey not out ............................ 69
Extras (lb5, nb2) .......................... 7
Total (3 wkts 37.2 overs) ......... 145
Bowling: Murtagh 11-4-19-2, Roland-
Jones 10-0-41-0, Finn 5-1-12-1, Harris 3-0-
17-0, Sowter 4.2-0-43-0, Stirling 4-0-8-0.
Derbyshire v Gloucs
DERBY: Derbyshire are leading
Gloucestershire by 86 runs.
DERBYS — 1st inns 200; 2nd inns
*B Godleman c Roderick b Allison ... 86
L Reece lbw b Shaw..................... 38
W Madsen c Dent b Allison .......... 69
T Lace not out .............................. 69
J du Plooy not out ....................... 27
Extras (b6, lb4, nb6) .................. 16
Total (3 wkts 85 overs) ............ 305
Bowling: Payne 14-2-45-0, Higgins
21-4-69-0, Shaw 20-5-85-1, Allison
19-4-52-2, Smith 7-1-16-0, Charles-
worth 2-0-16-0, Hammond 2-0-12-0.
GLOUCS — 1st inns
(Overnight: 396-7)
J Taylor b Reece ......................... 17
D Payne not out ........................... 26
J Shaw lbw b Reece....................... 4
B Allison b Reece .......................... 0
Extras (b9, lb12, w1, nb6) ......... 28
Total (123.4 overs) .................. 419
Bowling: Rampaul 30-5-88-3, Reece
27.4-4-91-4, van Beek 16-2-59-2, Hudson-
Prentice 17-6-54-0, Critchley 17-2-55-1,
Hughes 10-2-16-0, du Plooy 6-0-35-0.
Durham v Leicestershire
EMIRATES RIVERSIDE: Leics need
155 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
DURHAM — 1st inns 544-9 dec.
LEICESTERSHIRE — 1st inns
(Overnight: 152-4)
C Ackermann c Handscomb b Raine ... 13
C Wright c Eckersley b Carse ...... 27
H Dearden lbw b Carse ................ 22
†H Swindells lbw b Rushworth .... 24
G Griffiths b Rushworth ................. 1
W Davis c Rimmington b Carse ..... 1
M Abbas not out ............................. 0
Extras (b8, lb4, nb10) ................ 22
Total (84.4 overs) .................... 236
Bowling: Rushworth 24.4-6-61-2,
Carse 20-5-63-6, Raine 20-8-46-1,
Rimmington 11-0-30-0, Trevaskis
7-1-20-1, Burnham 2-0-4-0.
2nd Innings
M Azad c Eckersley b Carse ........ 57
*P Horton c Eckersley b Raine .... 35
N Dexter lbw b Steel .................... 24
M Cosgrove not out ..................... 21
Extras (b3, lb7, nb6) .................. 16
Total (3 wkts 58.1 overs) ......... 153
Bowling: Rushworth 12-5-32-0,
Carse 10-3-26-1, Raine 10-3-24-1,
Rimmington 6-2-13-0, Trevaskis
18-4-45-0, Steel 2.1-0-3-1.