Ben Stokes' sadness for James Taylor after news of illness

Ben Stokes has expressed his sadness at news James Taylor has had to retire from cricket because of a serious heart condition.

Scans revealed the Nottinghamshire batsman has Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Arrhthmia (ARVC) on Monday.

It is a condition to that suffered by former footballer Fabrice Muamba and Taylor will undergo surgery in the coming days.

Having played with Taylor as a youngster and more recently with England during the winter tour of South Africa, Stokes says the 26-year-old is a loss to the game.

He told Sky Sports News HQ: "To have a career to end like that is a massive perspective on life, not just in cricket.

"He's a young age and such a good player and has just established himself in the Test team and the one-day team.

"The only nice thing to come out of it is he's still going to be able to live. Some people aren't fortunate enough with the disease he's got.

"I've got quite close to James over the years. I've played a lot of Lions and England stuff with him and it's quite hard to deal with. It's devastating news for English cricket."