BRIAN HALFORD
Staff writer
England’s Performance Programme squad flew out to India for a month-long training camp today – without Jonathan Trott on board.
The Warwickshire batsman was due to be among a 17-strong tour party but withdrew yesterday after deciding that he would be better off taking a break from cricket after an intensive schedule in 2008.
There are cases where it grates with spectators to hear of a professional sportsman wanting a rest – but, in this instance, Trott has a point.
Last summer, he truly “put in a shift” for the Bears, playing in all 16 championship matches, 13 one-day fixtures and all 11 Twenty20 games.
Within those matches, he also did a lot of batting.
In the championship, Trott was the linchpin in Warwickshire’s Second Division title triumph, scoring 1,240 runs at an average of 62.
He also bowled 168 overs in all cricket – a fair few of them, curiously, before lunch on the opening day of four-day games as captain Darren Maddy persisted with an idiosyncratic conviction that Trott could nip one out before lunch.
Soon after his busy season with Warwickshire, Trott travelled east to represent England in the Hong Kong Sixes.
So a month in India with England’s emerging players (Trott is hardly at the “emerging” stage any more) would be of limited value.
“Jonathan has played a lot of cricket over the last 12 to 18 months without really having much of a break,” said the Bears director of cricket Ashley Giles.
“In addition to the runs he scored for us last season he obviously bowled a fair amount – and he has only just returned from Hong Kong.
“I am sure that he will benefit from having a bit of time off at home and then come back fresh for the start of 2009.”
