Trott’s Dedication To Runs Costs Him Popularity

The England team were visibly delighted at his match-winning performance on the final day at Lords against Bangladesh and he accepted the plaudits graciously. There has been less warmth shown towards the man who set up the victory, Jonathan Trott.

In a dedicated stay of eight hours, Trott made 45 per cent of England’s first innings total of 505, and he scored the winning runs, contributing 262 runs in the match for once out. That is a considerable effort. There is a suspicion, however, that he is not held to the team’s bosom quite like the rest. The sight of him re-marking his guard at the end of the match while the other players were shaking hands and heading for the pavilion hinted at why.

He is clearly obsessed with batting and his own self improvement. He practises ceaselessly, honing his repertoire with endless feeds from one coach or another. “Just three more,” he’ll say, but, irked by a slight miscue, he will still be there 20 minutes later. Trott, 29, is a perfectionist, meticulous almost to a fault. After an indifferent start to the summer, his coach at Warwickshire, Ashley Giles, politely advised him that arriving at 9.30am to hit 100 balls pre-match was likely to be of more benefit than getting in at 8am to hit 1,000, as he had been doing.

The adjustment seems to have worked, as his intensity had been getting the better of him, and there was a greater calm about his play at Lords. But he remained immersed in his own little bubble during the innings – taking guard, playing a stroke, going for a stroll – and rarely ventures out of it to communicate with anyone. He is a reluctant mid-wicket conversationalist and not a great runner between the wickets. He is engaged predominantly with himself. He will know his average to the third decimal point. He doesn’t look as if he’d ever be much fun. That is why he is not universally appreciated. Yet that is precisely why he is important to the England team.

It is that naked ambition and application which England need. It is that total immersion that enabled him to make a century against Australia on his test debut last summer, an innings vital to England’s Ashes triumph. His dedication to the crease is writ large, in the painstaking redrawing of a line demarcating middle stump, extending a yard down the pitch towards the bowler. The reason, to allow him to stand outside his crease in county cricket “to make the bowling faster”, he says. That is a measure of how desperate he is to succeed at international level.

Almost mechanical in his movements, he is not an especially compelling batsman to watch, tending to chug along at his own pace to his own rhythm.

There is a slightly clinical nature to his shots. He could be a German footballer. You’d bet he’d score from the penalty spot. After a lot of practice, of course. We don’t like people like that in England, do we? But you have to admire them. They are winners, and that is the point is it not?

And if England’s new fast bowler continues to maximise his 6ft 8in frame and stays fit and strong and as mean on the field as he is modest off it, England will win a lot.

With thanks to the Telegraph.co.uk

Jun 01, 2010 | Categories: Cricket, Slider, Test Cricket | Tags: Ashley Giles, county cricket, england, footballer, German, Jonathan Trott, Lords, perfectionist, Popularity, practice, Warwickshire, wickets | Leave A Comment »