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Home / Sport

Cricket: Trott opens up about demons ahead of England comeback

By Scyld Berry
Daily Telegraph UK·
10 Apr, 2015 10:55 PM5 mins to read

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Jonathan Trott is set to play his first test for England since walking away from the international game in 2013. Photo / Getty Images
Jonathan Trott is set to play his first test for England since walking away from the international game in 2013. Photo / Getty Images

Jonathan Trott is set to play his first test for England since walking away from the international game in 2013. Photo / Getty Images

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Jonathan Trott, on the verge of achieving his 50th test cap for England, looks back on the gap since his 49th in Brisbane in November 2013 and smiles, the calm smile of an older and wiser man.

"I think it was a culmination of a lot of cricket and just having an imbalanced perspective of what I needed to do to succeed," Trott said ahead of the first test in Antigua on Tuesday (NZT), when he is slated to open the batting with Alastair Cook.

"I set myself unrealistically high expectations that I couldn't achieve. It just started building and I couldn't see the wood from the trees," Trott said, without embarrassment, without any attempt at denial, just looking back from a new perspective.

"To be honest I had a great Champions Trophy [in 2013] and then I went into the Ashes and everyone was saying I averaged 90 against Australia blah-de-blah so I thought I had to get 90. I'm on nought when I walk out and I need 90 straight away. You just get into a situation where the expectations are almost inhuman.

"We had the Ashes [in England in 2013] and then the one-dayers. I had two weeks off - I spent that training every day - then went to Australia and had three days off in a month building up to the first test. It was an unbalanced view of the game.

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"It wasn't so much Brisbane, it was more of a lead up to it. The whole months leading up to it, even in England, were really tough and Brisbane was the culmination, a breaking point if you like, and it was interesting to step back and look at the things that have happened since. You hope it's something you will never have to go through, but it makes you a stronger person. It was a real challenge to be here but the challenge starts now.

"You speak to guys I've played with and they say, 'I've probably gone through something similar to you'. But it wasn't at the sort of level where they were exposed and they were managing to hide it or bury it and got away with it. Cricket is virtually 12 months a year so if something builds up and is not kept in check it can overtake everything.

"I did a bit of stuff with a psychologist when I got home and a couple of weeks later I thought I could play cricket again and it was just a case of burnout. We both came to the conclusion it was that, and then I went back and I still had the same problems. So I had to seek advice elsewhere and luckily Steve Peters and I have a good relationship.

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"I wouldn't say my expectations have changed. I still have high expectations of myself but just in different areas now, just realising what's really important - having a balanced life. This game and the time you spend on it can be all-encompassing and enveloping so it's good to have a balanced view and I'm a huge believer in that now. I went too far.

"The guys have been really good. The team's changed a bit so there are guys I haven't played with and a few guys I played on the Lions tour with, which is great. It was nice to go on that tour and see the players coming through there. To captain the Lions and go away with them was quite an eye-opener and I really enjoyed it."

Another difference between then and now is that Trott will open, not bat at three. "It's an in to the team and I have to adjust. I hadn't really batted at No?3 before I batted there for England, so I had to adjust to that and did that for a few years and really enjoyed it. It's always nice to bat with Alastair if I get the opportunity and he will be a familiar face if I go out there with him."

In his first innings of this tour Trott scored 72 happily enough. He scored six of them in the first over he faced, then slowed down to a rate of one an over, before expanding when the St Kitts spinners came on.

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In his second innings he was caught at third slip for nought - not happily, of course, but not too distraught. It was part of the learning process for a new opening batsman: knowing which ball to leave.

Playing for St Kitts, Trott was facing James Anderson, who drew him forward with a couple of outswingers, which he steered into the slips with an open face. The third ball, quicker and a touch wider, was edged to third slip.

His third innings, though, was terminated by a short ball, one of the first he had faced on this tour. The bowler was Quinton Boatswain, not 90mph but burly and lively, who represented Hampshire seconds last summer.

Trott went to pull a short ball which, on the slow pitch, got up to no more than waist height. He top-edged it on to his thigh pad and it ballooned to the waiting wicketkeeper. Cradling his bat in both arms, Trott looked more perturbed than he had been after his two previous dismissals.

Giving Trott three innings in their four days of match practice in St Kitts was one example of how England made the best they could have done in the inadequate circumstances in which they were placed - and an example of Peter Moores at his cheerful best, jollying everyone along, not only his players but getting the local side to accommodate several England players.

In such an environment Trott has every chance of making a successful comeback.

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