Cricket: England's Trott happy to proceed at own pace

Whether it’s the care with which he scratches out his mark, or the way he builds an innings, England’s Jonathan Trott is not a man to be rushed.

Yet for all his success, the speed with which Trott, a key figure in England’s top-order for Sunday’s Champions Trophy final against India at his Warwickshire home ground of Edgbaston, scores his runs remains a talking point.

The England number three’s career one-day strike rate of 77 has been reckoned by some observers to be too slow for the demands of the modern game.

Yet England have made it clear they want the rest of the side to bat round ‘anchorman’ Trott who has been in fine form at the Champions Trophy.

His tally of 209 runs is the third highest in the tourmanent behind India’s Shikhar Dawan (332) and Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara (222) while a strike-rate of 89.69 is in the top five of batsmen who’ve scored more than a hundred runs during this Champions Trophy.

But with the advent of two white balls in one-day internationals and helpful English conditions giving bowlers more of a chance early on, this tournament has not seen the huge scores many pundits forecast.

And that suggests the 32-year-old Trott, who marked his Test debut against Australia at The Oval in 2009 with a hundred, and England, without injured star batsman Kevin Pietersen, like the number three born in South Africa, for this tournament, may have got their approach spot-on.

“You just assess the situation and think about what is going to be a good score,” said Trott, whose unbeaten 82 against South Africa at The Oval on Wednesday set the seal on England’s passage into the final.

“I’ve always had a pretty good general feeling for the game and cricketing instincts and intuition,” added Trott, who impressively, averages over fifty in both Test and ODI cricket, also told reporters at Edgbaston on Friday.

“A few times people get things wrong and I’ve probably been guilty of that and I think the way I’ve played over the last couple of months I’ve contributed to getting some decent totals for the team.”

Born in Cape Town to a British father and South African mother, Trott played for South Africa junior sides from Under-15 to Under-19 level, and moved into the Boland and Western Province teams.

However, he took advantage of his British passport and his relationship with the late Bob Woolmer, who coached both South Africa and Warwickshire, to arrange a trial with the Birmingham-based county.

He settled quickly, marrying the granddaughter of former Warwickshire captain Tom Dollery and insisting he felt “completely British”.

There will be a strong Warwickshire connection to the home team come the final with England’s one-day side now coached by former Test match spinner Ashley Giles, who played for the county, and set to include at least two Bears batsmen in Trott and Ian Bell.

Trott admitted helping England win their first major one-day international title on his home ground would be extra special but, ever controlled, he was keen not to get too carried away.

“I looked at the fixture list and saw it (the final) there a few months ago, and I was really excited,” said Trott.

“You didn’t want to think about it too much and have it as a sort of goal and take away the importance of all the other games, so it’s important just to keep it as another game and hopefully win.”

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