Trott content with Ballance taking over for England

Cricket365
September 20, 2014

Warwickshire batsman Jonathan Trott has not given up all hope of playing for England again, but feels he will be content if he lets his replacement, Gary Ballance, continue his good work at number three.

Trott has not played for the Test side since leaving Australia with a stress-related illness late last year, and spent month away from the game to get his health sorted out. In that time, Ballance has been superb as his replacement.

With Warwickshire doing well in all formats this season, Trott has impressed with the bat, but feels that while his England hopes are not dashed, he will be alright if he's purely a County player.

Trott said of his post- season ambitions: "Who knows? If I get a chance to play for England again it will be fantastic, it will be a real honour and a privilege and I'll be giving 100 per cent like I've always done.

"But if it doesn't happen and they move on, that's great. I wish them all the best. They've certainly played some good Test cricket lately and all the best to them.

"Gary came in and played incredibly well, he's a fantastic player. He's taken to batting at number three and the pressures of Test cricket really, really well.

"He's slotted in there with no trouble at all so it's great to have County Cricket producing players like that, that's what it's about."

Trott gave an interview early in the year, saying he had suffered from 'burn out' which many said played down his situation, and it caused much debate. Trott then played one game in April, against Sussex, before withdrawing again.

When re turned for a second time, he started off slowly, in the second team, and built his way up. He returned to the first team in the One Day Cup and was in fine form, averaging over 60 on the way to the final.

He added: "It was a real strange thing, opening up and telling people what happened – it got mixed reviews, I suppose. I then had to take another break in April and sort myself out.

"I feel like I've managed to do that. I feel a lot stronger as a person and a cricketer having had to come through what has happened. It has been a really interesting journey.

"The good thing for me is that I went back and played a little bit of second team cricket and I said to myself 'it's not a case of me going in and playing three games and feeling ok playing cricket again'.

"It was more about me setting myself standards, to go and play first-team cricket I needed to go and do certain things in the second team. I managed to do those; I got a few hundreds and then went into the first team when I felt completely ready."