Cricket

[Shaggy]

Ryan Harris takes the last two. SA beaten in their own back yard. Incredible stuff from the Aussies, fair play.

[spud_gun]

Test cricket, eh?

what a series

[Shaggy]

Sky Sports Cricket @SkyCricket
Jonathan Trott in gym.He'll talk about comeback and why he left Ashes in a Sky Sports documentary coming soon pic.twitter.com/jCH3dxhFCp

[Shaggy]

Trotty is now on Twitter! @Trotty

Jonathan Trott @Trotty
Thrilled to confirm I will return for @CricketingBears vs Gloucs on 1st April. Thanks to everyone for such amazing support #youbears

[Alex]

Anyone see his Interview last night? What was the reasons behind his departure?

[Shaggy]

What interview?

[Alex]

They were trailing one on SSN for 7pm last night I thought.

[RichC]

England vs West Indies has started well for the Windies.

4 balls - 14 runs

[Shaggy]

BBC TMS @bbctms
On Monday evening @bbc5live you'll have the chance to hear an in-depth and revealing interview with @Trotty speaking to @patmurphybbc

BBC TMS @bbctms
Trott will explain exactly why he had to leave the tour of Australia and why he expects to play for England again #bbccricket

[Shaggy]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/mar/14/jonathan-trott-england-ashes-guilt-comeback?CMP=twt_gu

Jonathan Trott expresses 'guilt' over Ashes exit and plans England comeback

• Trott says burnout was reason for early Australia departure
• Batsman wants to play in one-day internationals this spring

Andy Wilson

theguardian.com, Friday 14 March 2014 11.00 GMT

Jonathan Trott has spoken of his "guilt" at leaving England's Ashes tour after one Test last November, denied that his abrupt departure was triggered by Mitchell Johnson – and set his sights on an immediate comeback to international cricket in the one-day internationals against Scotland and Sri Lanka this spring.

In an extensive interview with the former England batsman Ian Ward, which will be broadcast on Sky Sports on Sunday night, Trott admitted that he was worried he might be regarded as a "nutcase" after flying home because of what was described at the time as "a stress-related illness" – but that he is now convinced was burnout, as opposed to the type of depression that led Marcus Trescothick to leave a previous Ashes tour.

"I remember day two or day three [of the first Test in Brisbane, where he was dismissed cheaply by Johnson in each innings and mocked by Australia's opener David Warner], it was a bit of a blur," the 32-year-old recalled.

"I was getting headaches and all sorts of things and I wasn't eating properly towards the end and that's when the sleep started getting disruptive and emotionally that was probably when I was worst and it just boiled over," said Trott. "I had nothing left in the tank or the battery – mentally and emotionally pretty drained.

"In Brisbane I spoke to the doc [England's team doctor] and on one of the last nights I was there he said, 'You know if I was in the situation and I was a GP I'd sign you off for three weeks from work and say come back and see me in three weeks'. But we're on an Ashes tour and you can't do that, so I didn't have anywhere to go really, so I made the decision along with everyone else that it was the best option."

Trott had already left the country before his departure was announced by England's managing director, Hugh Morris, and the team director, Andy Flower ,in a Brisbane hotel the day after the Test. "It was really weird," Trott said. "I woke up in Hong Kong and the news was about to break in Australia I'd left so it was really strange, and then the guys walked out at Adelaide [for the second Test] and things didn't go well and a feeling of guilt started kicking in.

"I'd experienced a lot of success with England and a lot of good times and not many bad times and seeing the guys struggling out there was pretty tough in that I should have been there going through the tough times. That was the hardest thing for me – to be in contact with the guys and them thinking he's at home with the central heating on and watching it on TV. That was probably the toughest thing being at home while the other guys are getting a bit of a barrage in Australia and I'm what felt like a million miles away from it."

He added: "It's pretty difficult to put into words the emotions to walk away from an Ashes tour – it's something I never thought I'd have to do and something I hope no cricketer has to do again. It was very difficult to do at the time, it was the right decision no doubt, it was something that came about through no one else's fault other than the situation I found myself in; wanting to do so well for England. I tried my hardest and ended up finding out myself I had nothing left to give.

"I wasn't helping anyone by being there so coming back was the only option, because on that kind of tour you can't carry anybody. It was very difficult for me to operate close to 100% or even 50% of what I was capable of. I didn't have the emotional energy or the mental energy to get there. Throughout the summer I was getting to 40 and 50 and I just couldn't watch the ball as hard as I normally do. It just wasn't there for some reason, whether I was thinking too much about cricket off the field and just burning myself out that way or just trying too hard."

Trott added: "It was difficult when I got home in that I switched on the TV when the guys walked out at Adelaide and I was a little bit worried about going out in public because people look at you and I'd been all over the press and you don't know what people are thinking. You know, they think 'There goes that nutcase' or whatever and you're not quite sure what people's perceptions are because anybody would want to go on an Ashes tour and play in an Ashes and he's just walked away from that and it was tough. People come up to you and say, 'It's good to see you're out and about' and I'm like, 'I'm not crazy I was just burnt out'."

Asked by Ward about the more cynical interpretation – that he had been "duffed up by Mitchell Johnson [and] you just couldn't handle him", Trott answered: "I'm sure people will think that, and people have said it, but it didn't matter who was bowling, and that's the hardest part to accept. It doesn't matter if it was 100mph or 90mph or 60mph it all pretty much felt the same."

As a centrally contracted player, Trott has remained in close touch with the England medical staff throughout the winter, and certainly gives an impression of confidence that he will be recalled this summer. "I feel I've got a bit of unfinished business with England and also repaying people's trust and the work people have put in with me in the last four months," he said.

"I know there's a Scotland game at the beginning of May. That would be a good game to get back into the mix, back into the squad environment and then at the end of the month there's Sri Lanka. I don't want to be one of those cricketers who picks and chooses. I want to be available from the word go.

"I remember almost to the day, six weeks after I got back, I was driving and I remember thinking if I had to go out and bat now at Brisbane, six weeks later after no cricket, I'd feel a lot more confident than I did when I did go out there and play. I'll probably be under a cloud for a bit: that 'he left an Ashes tour, is he going to be OK, is he going to be able to come back?' and I certainly feel I can. I just hope I can prove it."

Trott is due to make his comeback for Warwickshire in a pre-season fixture against Gloucestershire at Edgbaston on 1-2 April.

Watch the full programme Jonathan Trott: Burn Out on Sunday, 16 March at 7pm on Sky Sports 1

[Alex]

What Flower was saying at the time was that it was something he has long suffered with. So I guess that's not entirely true?

[Shaggy]

Yes. It's a little odd.

[Shaggy]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/story/727723.html

Trott feared career was over

George Dobell
March 13, 2014



'It began to seem impossible. I had set myself this unrealistic scale of success and I was beating myself up trying to live up to it'

Jonathan Trott has admitted he feared he would never play cricket again after he left the Ashes tour of Australia.

Trott left the tour after the first Test in Brisbane suffering from what was described by the ECB as a "stress related illness." Now, in an exclusive interview with ESPNcricinfo - his first since the incident - he has spoken of the exhaustion, rather than depression, that led to his decision to return home and the guilt he continues to feel for leaving his team-mates on what turned out to be one of the toughest tours in England's history.

"At the time I left the dressing room, I thought that was the end," Trott said. "I thought I'd never play for England again. I thought I'd never play for Warwickshire again. I thought I was walking away from everything I had ever worked towards.

"Andy Flower was clearly very upset. His voice broke as he told the team the news. Then I think it was Stuart Broad came and gave me a hug. I think all the guys did. They couldn't have been more supportive. Most of them had no idea what was going on."

Trott was to have played his 50th Test in Adelaide but, over the course of the previous six months, he had become more and more exhausted by a combination of on and off-field problems that left him unable to concentrate or remain calm.

"It began to seem impossible," Trott said. "I had set myself this unrealistic scale of success and I was beating myself up trying to live up to it.

"The more people said 'Oh, you'll be great against Australia' the worse it was. I averaged 90 against them so, in my head, I needed to score 180 runs a game to sustain that. And that meant, if I made 100, I was still left thinking, 'Oh no, I need to score another 80 in the second innings just to break even.' I had set myself unsustainable standards.

"We had put so much into the Champions Trophy and to lose the final from the position that we were in was a huge setback. And then the knowledge that we had 10 Ashes Tests in succession… it just seemed it would never end.

"I felt guilty [leaving the Ashes tour]," he said. "I still feel guilty.

"I was there for the good times. I should have been there for the hard times. I hated seeing what they went through in Australia. At my best, I know I could have made a difference. But even below my best, I felt I should be there to share the experience. We've shared a lot together."

Trott denied that his struggles against Mitchell Johnson's pace were relevant to his decision to return home.

"He's a very good bowler," Trott said. "You've seen lots of batsmen struggle against him. In normal circumstances I would have been fine. I'm not saying I would have scored lots of runs, but I'd have gone out there with confidence.

"But I couldn't think. I couldn't concentrate. I couldn't stand still or watch the ball. Everything I had practised went out of the window. In those circumstances, any problem you have with your technique - and when I'm out of form I tend to fall over to the off side - is magnified and you saw me walking towards him, stepping across my stumps and trying to hit everything into the leg side. It wasn't that I was scared or anything, it was just the result of a cluttered mind. It would have been the same against any bowler."

Now, however, having enjoyed a prolonged break from the game, Trott is looking forward to returning to cricket at the start of the domestic season and hopes that he can force his way back into the England set-up for the start of the international summer.

"This is the longest I've ever gone without picking up a bat," Trott says. "I mean the longest since I was about three years old. I've been four months without cricket and it's been fine.

"Of course I want to play for England again. But it would be silly to look too far ahead. If I do make it back, I will just take it one series at a time and one tour at a time. I'll get the balance right between rest and preparation and I'll try and enjoy it. That's been the best thing to come out of this, really. Cricket meant so much to me. Too much. But now I know there is life outside cricket."

[Shaggy]

George Dobell v Pat Murphy on Twitter

[captainfog]

George Dobell v Pat Murphy on Twitter

What are they saying?

I would absolutely take what gb says about trott over any other journo. He is very close to the trott camp.