“No one wants to be the washed-up ex-cricketer sitting at the bar getting pissed talking of the good old days”: A narrative analysis of retirement as experienced by male professional cricketers in England

In spite of current literature illuminating the challenges professional athletes encounter when transitioning into new careers, very little research has focused on the experiences of professional cricketers. To rectify this situation, this study explores how a group of professional cricketers in England experienced retirement from their sport. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with former county (7) and international (3) male players who had retired within the last 15 years. Interview transcripts were then subjected to a narrative analysis that led to the identification of the following themes: restricting, confronting, enforcement, coherence and reimagining. Each of these themes is discussed in detail and the manner in which they function as narrative resources that shape the retirement experiences of the cricketers is considered. Attention is also given to how narrative repertoires amongst professional cricketers might be expanded so that multiple future selves become available to them in the process of retiring from their sport rather than being restricted by narrowly defined career storylines.