Yardy close to winning fight against depression

England all-rounder Michael Yardy is close to making a comeback out of depression and is likely to return to first-team duties for Sussex.

Sussex head coach Mark Robinson said club captain Yardy, who returned early from England's World Cup bid suffering from depression, is close to winning his battle against depression.

The 30-year-old is certain to miss the game against Lancashire, but could return to front line action at Hampshire next week.

"He is going well. Every week he has practised more. The first time he came in once and last week he came in three times and this week he was in every day, including Saturday, and so he is getting close," Robinson was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph.

"I think this week will be too early. Whether he is in a situation to play the week after we will just have to wait and see. At the moment he hasn't practised with the group but he is due to on Monday. We would love to have him back because he is a quality player and he gives character and backbone for a team that has that anyway but he has got experience and so we miss him, of course we do," said Robinson

"But it is just like anybody being injured. You have to give them time to heal properly and what you don't want to do is rush them back so that they have a recurrence of the injury. It's the same for Yards. So we have just got to keep talking to him and keep giving him time. He is increasingly his workload and he is doing more and more as he feels stronger and more able to do it," he added.