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Pay out helps soften injury blow for ex-Glos seamer Saxelby

1 February 2016

Former Gloucestershire seamer Ian Saxelby says that he would happily swap the £60,000 lump sum payment insurance he has just received for the early end to his cricket career for another 10 years in the game.

Saxelby  - who took more than 109 First Class wickets - was forced to retire at the age of 25 in June 2014 by a knee injury that he sustained playing against Surrey two months earlier.

He is now working for Lockton, a leading firm of insurance brokers, in their Chepstow office.

Saxelby had covered himself for the eventuality of a career-ending injury by taking out a permanent disablement insurance policy through the PCA and his claim has just been settled by the insurers.

He received the highest amount that can be paid for a 25-year-old player under the policy.

The payment will make life a little more comfortable for Saxelby and his wife Gemma as they settle into a new house and prepare for the birth of a child in two months’ time but will not adequately compensate Saxelby for the loss of his cricket career.

He said: “I know other players who have put in for this claim and been unsuccessful so in that respect I see myself as being relatively lucky.

“On the same hand, I have been extremely unlucky with the injuries I sustained throughout my career.  If I was able to give it all back and be able to play again I would jump at the chance to be able to play until I am 35.

Saxelby helped to soften the blow of having his playing career cut short by having a Personal Development Programme which included studying for a mathematics degree with the Open University, working in Gloucestershire’s marketing department and gaining valuable work experience with companies in Bristol.

He was also the chairman of Gloucestershire batsman Hamish Marshall’s benefit year in 2015.

He added: “I have managed to find myself a job through the preparation I did by doing a maths degree, going into industry and working with Gloucestershire’s marketing department etc.

“I now feel as though I am back on my feet.”

For more on the PCA click here.

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