Ashes 2015
Spare a Thought for Jonathon Trott
May 2nd 2015
Right now, after his third duck in five innings, Jonathon Trott is probably feeling as wretched as a human being can feel. He has already had two breaks from cricket due to stress-related illness and right now must be wondering why he chose to come back.
A lot of fans,
probably the majority, feared that this would happen and what the consequences
would be for him if it did. Trott, must feel that he has let down his
team-mates and the country. For a few, brief hours in the 2nd Test,
as England were compiling their first century opening partnership since the
2013 series in New Zealand, it looked as if the experiment might just come
gloriously right. However, Trott’s dismissal not long after reaching fifty
meant that the fairy-tale ending of a comeback century was not to be.
George Dobell, wise
as ever, suggests that Trott’s courage in risking failure to bat out of
position, despite his illness, was his finest moment. He might well be right.
Right now Jonathon
Trott does not need criticism: he needs understanding and sympathy.
What is evident is
that a new opener will take over in England for the New Zealand Tests. Probably
it will be Adam Lyth, but there is a large minority who would like to see Alex
Hales after his sensational start to the season.
In the Test the
suspicion is that England have let slip a real opportunity to kill the series.
The delight of Alistair Cook’s painstaking century – at one point he had just 82
runs from 77 overs – was tempered by first him running out Moeen Ali when his
partner looked set for a century of his own and then to lose concentration
immediately on reaching his century and to get out with the last ball of the
day. At 189-4 England were in a strong position, but the needless loss of Moeen
and then the fall of Stokes and Cook just before the Close has put a dampener
on things.
The suggestion is
that the surface is breaking up already and that 300 might just be a pretty
good total to defend. To reach it though England will need Jos Buttler and
Chris Jordan to bat for their lives and for Stuart Broad to show the courage
against fast bowling that he has been lacking after his horrific blow in the
face last summer.
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