Jonathan Trott: England batsman leaves Ashes tour of Australia England's Jonathan Trott has left the Ashes tour of Australia because of a long-standing stress-related condition. Batsman Trott scored 19 runs in two innings during England's first Test defeat and struggled against the bowling of Mitchell Johnson. "I don't think it is right that I'm playing knowing that I'm not 100%," said the 32-year-old. England coach Andy Flower added: "He needs time away from this environment and time with his family."
All the best to JT - mental illness is a very serious thing and often maligned by those who haven'e experienced it. As for a replacement, how about Chris Woakes? He is already in the ODI and T20 teams and made his test debut in the 5th Test against Australia last summer, scoring 42. As an alrounder his inclusion would also give another bowler for Cook to use as support for the others. He couls slot in at six with Bell going in at three, Pietersen at four and Root at five.
Woakes isn't good enough. Watched him at the Rose Bowl this summer, albeit in a one-dayer, but he looked fragile.
England have been a team in every sense of the word over the last few years. Someone has always stepped up to the plate as and when required and this has resulted in some very consistent team performances. Arguably though, Trott has been the fulcrum of that, purely because of the length of time he spent at the crease whether scoring runs or just annoying the hell out of opponents. I hope not but I think the loss of Trott could have far bigger consequences than simply "who moves to number three".
Firstly I hope Jonathan Trott is okay. I have a horrible feeling this may be the end of his England career (neither Trescothick nor Yardy ever made it back into the side after their problems) but I'd love him to prove me wrong. I fear this England side may be starting to unravel. Swann wasn't that effective in Australia last time and struggled to keep things tight in Brisbane. After him there's Monty and not much else. Tremlett looked short of pace and not particularly threatening in Brisbane, which is a problem in a 4 man attack. If the Adelaide pitch looks likely to turn then we could possibly risk Finn but if the pitch doesn't look likely to help Swann then Bresnan or Rankin will probably have to come in. The lack of depth in our batting has been a concern for a while now. None of the replacements we've tried for Strauss and Collingwood have properly cemented their place in the team and with Trott dropping out we'll go into the next Test with only 3 of our top order really established in the side. I suspect Bell will go to 3, Root to 5 and the newcomer to 6 but none of our backup options fills me with confidence.
You sound very sure we will lose in Perth. Nothing is a certainty with the Ashes. I would not write us off in Perth just yet.
No I'm not certain( only 99.9999999999999% ) , just MV said we got hammered in Brisbane last time , and Perth is even harder !
Certainly not writing off England as I think they'll bounce back in this series... BUT, have had a nagging feeling for a while now that a core of this team could well possibly all blow up at the same time. Those being KP, Trott, Swann, Prior & Anderson (I'm putting aside Trott's personal issues & simply looking at him as a No3). It happened with Australia, all their fabulous players all got on the downward spiral of their careers at the same time and instead of trying to blend in 1 or 2 new players, they had to find 5 or 6 and rushed their selections. Although I guess we've been lucky to have such a good england side for so long. Those days of the early mid 90's were pretty awful.
I agree the team is capable of bouncing back in this series but in the medium term I'm not sure who will replace those players CBK has listed. I suppose Rankin, Finn and Broad could be a decent pace attack, especially if Finn gains a bit more control. The batting is a real worry though. KP, Bell, Prior and Trott are all between 31 and 33 so likely to finish in the next 3-5 years. Once Monty and Swann retire we look very short of spinners too. It's not a new problem either. Collingwood retired near enough 3 years ago and hasn't been adequately replaced. In that time we've tried a bunch of options with Bopara, Morgan, Bairstow and Root being the most prominent. Root is the only one who's really come close to solidifying a place in the team and as soon as he seemed to be settling in the middle order the management shoved him up to open. That's another issue, Carberry may well score runs for a year or two but even his biggest fans would accept that at 33 he's not a long term answer. Root could be ready to open by the time Carbs finishes but that just makes the hole in the middle order even bigger.
Well we have Ballance, Root, Bairstow coming through and then there are players like Vince who are potential England players. Simon Kerrigan will become England's number 1 spinner after Swann and there is also Briggs.
That's not a reassuring list. It should be longer for a start. Yes, Root has looked good and I suspect he could have been better but I don't think he's been managed well. Having said that, I wouldn't really count him as a replacement for KP, Trott etc because he's already playing pretty regularly alongside them. He's Collingwood's replacement if anything. Last summer Bairstow seemed to have regressed since he made his England debut and if he doesn't produce relatively soon I think he'll go the way of Bopara and Morgan. The others are totally unproven. They might become a Bell or Trott but there's more chance they won't. Kerrigan was woeful in his one appearance and Briggs is more of a limited overs bowler at the moment.
