Professional sports stars are the elite of their chosen discipline and as such are expected to rise above the average to perform for the team or nation. Troubles at home, nagging injury, poor form, an unsupportive team-mate… there is never a dearth of issues troubling a player.

The challenge is to rise above it. Which is why the decision by Graeme Swann to quit international cricket in the middle of the Ashes series has come as a big disappointment. Not because one of the finest spinners in contemporary cricket had to leave the game after a lost Ashes series, but because he didn’t finish what he had started.

One England star – Jonathan Trott – had already left the team after the first Test citing stress related illness and the visitors were staring down the barrel ever since. What was needed was for the senior members of the team to come together and regain some pride. However, Swann decided to leave the team saying he didn’t feel he had much to offer. The point here is he wasn’t exactly blocking any up-and-coming spinner’s spot and Alastair Cook badly needed all hands on deck to save the sinking ship.

More importantly, it’s the job of an international player to plough through turbulent times. They are paid handsomely for it after all. The Australians themselves have two players who had almost everything going against them and still stuck it out to emerge as Ashes champions.

Brad Haddin had lost his spot to Mathew Wade, was 35 years old and had to take care of his daughter who was suffering from cancer. On the bowling front, Mitchell Johnson was almost out of the reckoning even for one-day cricket, let alone Tests. But the two fought their way back, Haddin through scores in the Sheffield Shield and Johnson by regaining his touch in the IPL and then blasting away the Indian batsmen during the ODIs before the Ashes.

By comparison, Swann was not in such dire straits. What has also not gone down well is Swann’s jibes at some players who he feels think too highly of themselves. Whoever they are, and we can all guess, why did Swann take a swipe at them while announcing his retirement? Many teams have had players who didn’t like each other one bit but just got on with it. That’s just how team sport is.

By retiring at the worst possible moment, in the middle of a series that is turning into a nightmare of epic proportions, Swann has let his team and fans down. He could still have been dropped for the last two Tests but he should have been next to his beaten team-mates at the end, not spending the rest of the tour on holiday in Australia with his family.

The one positive among all this is that Cook and coach Andy Flower have been spared a situation where they had to field a player who was not up for the challenge. And that would have been an even sadder end to a great career.