Jonathan Trott scores his first hundred after taking a break from cricket
In the midst of a torrid time for English cricket, with a victory eluding the Test team for the last 10 Test matches, Jonathan Trott has provided some much-needed positive news by scoring his first century, since admitting to a stress-related related illness in Australia last winter, for Warwickshire on day 3 of the County Championship game against Sussex yesterday.
His patient innings, which finally ended on 106 off 242 balls after spending more than 5 hours at the crease, provided a reminder to everyone as to what England are currently missing. While everyone has spoken about Kevin Pietersen’s departure, it shouldn’t be forgotten that England’s rise to No.1 in the ICC rankings coincided with Trott’s ascent as an England cricketer. He was a remarkably consistent run-scorer from the No.3 position, thereby shielding the middle-order from being exposed to the newish ball on numerous occasions.
While the 33-year-old’s personal problems in the winter mean that talk of an England comeback is extremely premature, there were signs on Wednesday that he is slowly but surely on his way to fully recovering.
“It was good. It was important to spend some time in the middle. I felt pretty good at Durham last week so I just wanted to continue that and keep working and improving,” Trott said.
“I’m not sure that getting hundreds just to get them out the way is the right way to phrase it. It’s about going out there and being part of a team rather than just thinking about your own personal game. It’s important that I maintain that mentality. It’s important to take one step at a time.
“At the moment I am just concentrating on playing for Warwickshire. It’s just a question of being all-round comfortable and getting back into playing cricket every day as you do in county cricket. I have learned a lot over the last couple of months so now it is just a case of putting it into practice.”
While Trott did have off-field issues during the Ashes series Down Under, what compounded the problem was his susceptibility against the bouncer, and Johnson, in particular, left him brutally exposed. With that being the case, it was no surprise to see the Sussex duo of Steve Magoffin and Chris Jordan giving him a barrage of bouncers as soon he walked out to bat, but Trott handled everything that came his way with elan.
He had his share of luck, as the Sussex fielders gave him a reprieve on a couple of occasions, but no one was begrudging him for it. He finally brought up his 34th first-class hundred with a trademark leg-side flick off the bowling of Jordan. He was dropped once again on the score of 105 but was dismissed shortly after, nicking a ball from Magoffin to the wicket-keeper for a well made 106.