Revd Canon Andrew Wingfield Digby was chaplain for the team from 1991 to 2001.
No chaplain has supported the team since, and Revd Canon Andrew Wingfield Digby argues the support service is a necessary outlet for players who are at risk of suffering stress and depression following long periods away from home.
"Industries, armed forces, football clubs and other walks of life have woken up to having a chaplain.
"It's a shame that the national cricket team doesn't offer it.
"I think it would demonstrate real care for their people if the ECB could offer spiritual support alongside all the other professionals involved in preparing the team," he said in The Times.
Wingfield Digby is now a vicar at St Andrew's Church in Oxford and still follows the game.
He was ordained in 1977 and moved to help the England ticket team in 1991.
He says he role was not to be religious, but to be non-judgemental: "I got on really well with all the players.
"I was available in the dressing room if anyone wanted to talk to me."
Other faith leaders help the cricket team, made from people of all backgrounds and communities: "I think it's a healthy thing to have people from different faith backgrounds on the same team.
"Often a Muslim cricketer understands what someone like me is trying to do more than an 'unchurched' English cricketer."
