NICKY Peng chose the same day as Seve Ballesteros to announce his retirement, and while his decision barely raised an eyebrow compared with the grief surrounding Seve, my own sympathies lay with the former Durham batsman.

I suspect both are troubled souls, but while Seve knew the glory and satisfaction of touching wonderful heights, Peng peaked at 18 with three marvellous one-day centuries in one season and has now quit at 24.

One of those centuries was a magnificent 121 at Worcester, setting the stage for comfortably the best floodlit game I have witnessed, and anyone who saw it would have predicted a glittering future for the Newcastle Royal Grammar School product.

The weight of expectation, however, proved too much for him, and like his former Durham team-mate Michael Gough, who also captained England Under 19s, he has quit at an early age because he wasn't enjoying it.

One of Peng's problems may have been that he came from a wealthy background and knew nothing of being a hungry fighter. His background also meant that he enjoyed the best available coaching during his formative years, raising the possibility that he was a manufactured batsman who didn't have the talent to adapt once bowlers worked him out.

Peng spoke of releasing himself from the "mind games" which had afflicted him, and it's probably a blessing that he has got out before becoming as tortured as the many cricketers who have committed suicide.

Although Seve has denied it, there was a report in the Spanish press that he had attempted suicide, which is a rarity among golfers because they are used to fighting battles alone. It's being taken out of the team environment in which they exist all season which usually plunges cricketers into depression.

Certainly, Seve doesn't look well and if there is something wrong that will be a far greater cause for wailing than his retirement because he has been a spent force for many years. That it has taken him until now to admit it is a reflection of the fiercely competitive nature of a man who loathed being beaten, either by opponents or the protests of his own body.

By choosing to come to Carnoustie to make his announcement, Seve has ensured his many friends and admirers at the Open this week will keep his spirits up. But what happens next week?

This is the man who so passionately embraced the team ethic that he transformed the Ryder Cup. He is not like Nick Faldo, whose single-minded pursuit of perfection allows him to thrive despite having a string of failed relationships behind him.

If Seve can't play the game any more those with the power to keep him involved must do so to ensure that something much sadder than his inevitable retirement doesn't befall him.

SEVE might find inspiration from the man who finished second to him in the 1980 Masters, and who also lost in a play-off against Tom Watson on the Open's last but one visit to Carnoustie in 1975. That was the Australian Jack Newton, who at 33 lost his right eye and right arm when he walked into the spinning propeller of a Cessna plane. He keeps himself busy through course design, TV commentating and running his junior golf foundation, through which he has raised $2m towards diabetes research. If he can do that, imagine what someone with Seve's profile could achieve.

IT'S surprising that the Barry Burn hasn't been re-named the Frenchman's Creek given the amount of publicity generated by Jean Van de Velde's rolled-up trousers at Carnoustie in 1999. He was so far up the creek that he had evidently taken leave of his senses, and in an effort to lighten the mood playing partner Craig Parry suggested he should wait six hours for the tide to go out.

ANIL Kumble needs 12 wickets during the England v India series to overtake Glenn McGrath's Test haul of 563, at which point the top three will all be spinners. It cannot be long, either, before the lead changes hands as the 12 worthless wickets taken in Kandy against Bangladesh last week by Muttiah Muralitharan took him to 700, only eight behind Shane Warne. Murali has taken 163 against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, while Warne's tally against the minnows was 17, so don't expect the amber nectar to flow in Australia when the Sri Lankan topples their golden boy.

AS I am almost apoplectic with rage over the ludicrous hype surrounding a certain celebrity couple, I announce that henceforth this space will be a Beckham-free zone.