Trott leaves Ashes Tour in Turmoil

Jonathan Trott has returned home from the Ashes tour after the recurrence of a stress related illness.  When I heard the news,the mauling England had taken in the first Test in under 4 days did not matter one bit.  There was a bigger issue here, Trott's health was at risk.

Those nine balls Trott faced in the second innings must have felt like an eternity and agony for him.  Although Trott batting in a such a frenzied way seemed so out of character for him, certainly the public would not have seen this coming.  I was genuinely shocked.

This was England's number 3 who had previously been so "in the zone" when batting with all his rituals of scratching the pitch and taking his time at each delivery, that it often felt like he was batting in a bubble.  Unfortunately, that bubble could, and has, burst, resulting in Trott needing to take a break from cricket.

All the routine when Trott is at the crease may now be seen as steps he needed to take to keep the demons at bay with Andy Flower confirming Trott has been dealing with this for several years now.

Mitchell Johnson's hostile round the wicket bowling and David Warner's derogatory comments have not caused Trott's illness, but we will never know if they were the tipping point to make the illness resurface.

Warner especially will hopefully learn from this and think twice about calling any fellow professional "pretty poor and weak" or looking "scared".  Despite Warner not knowing at the time what Trott was suffering from, those comments were still unacceptable.  This wasn't something Warner said in the heat of the moment in the battle on the field, but these comments were made in the relative calmness of a press conference.

He might not feel it right now, but the bravest thing for the Warwickshire stalwart to do was acknowledge this illness and return home so he can get the professional help and support from his family that he needs.

It is natural to make comparisons between Trott's return home and that of Marcus Trescothick on the 2006/7 Ashes series also suffered with a stress related illness.  All of these illnesses shouldn't be put under the same umbrella.  Trescothick's trigger was being away from his family and home support, it does not mean that Trott will never tour abroad again.  Trott's trigger could be something different and individual to him.

Although attitudes towards stress related illnesses are better now than ten years ago, there are still those who through their ignorance fail to recognise it as an illness.

Some still fail to understand what stress can come from doing for a living what many dream of.  However, cricket today is not how it used to be.  Gone are the days of cricket being a summer sport.  Today the life of the International cricketer offers no respite as they shoulder the burden of the demanding touring schedule.

The International Cricket Council should take notice that this is the third England cricketer in seven years to return home from an overseas tour with stress related illnesses.  For those three that have sought help,  how many others are there still suffering and battling in silence?  How many are there in other international teams where they might not have as good an infrastructure as the England Cricket Board and the Professional Cricket Association's Mind matters programme.  How many play for countries where mental illness is still a taboo?

Back to back Ashes series in the same year can't happen again. The entire International schedule needs addressing.  The longevity of a cricketer's career is ever diminishing.  Playing all three formats of the International game means that you physically and mentally can't carry on as long cricketers used to.

In addition, as players careers end, often in their early to mid-thirties, this adds to their mental stress.  Everything they have known in their life is often over by 35.  What is a cricketer to do then?  Not everyone has the luxury of a spot in the Sky Sports studio or newspaper column.  Something needs to be done,

My thoughts go out to Jonathan Trott and hope he makes a full recovery and return to cricket.  Even if Trott does not play cricket again, the important thing here is ensuring that he has his health back.  This demonstrates despite how much an Ashes series means to both players and fans, sport never comes before the well being of an individual.

England complete Aussie demolition job

England completely outplayed Australia to batter them by 347 runs in 4 days.  As someone who grew up watching England in the dark old days of the mid to late 90s, the nature of this Test win was all the sweeter.

I grew up listening to commentators, coaches and captains just wanting England to "compete".  No real expectation of victory, just to compete with Australia and that would be a job well done.  That was all we could realistically expect.  It has gone full circle, as this time the calls were for the Aussies to show a bit of grit, to compete, to put up a fight. 

But how do you compete when you collapse in such spectacular style to 128 all out in your first innings? Once the first wicket fell for 42 runs, the rest of the Australian order folded like a pack of cards to rack up a first innings deficit of 233 runs.

Tellingly, England were 28 for 3 in the first innings and posted 361 runs.  Second time round they were 30 for 3 and went on to declare on 349 for 7.  That demonstrates just how wide the gulf is between the top order batsmen of the two sides, and the depth that England possess.

Ian Bell seems to have the knack of being overshadowed when he scores a century.   In the last Test, the saga of whether Stuart Broad should have walked overshadowed Bell's century.  In this match despite a century in the first innings and 74 runs in the second, Joe Root will be taking all the headlines.  Nevertheless, England will be more than pleased with the Warwickshireman's contribution so far in this Ashes series.

Just as a few murmurs were brewing questioning if 22 year old Root is the right man to open for England, he answers his critics with a sublime 180 runs at the Home of Cricket.  In doing so, he became the youngest Englishman to score an Ashes 100 at Lord's.  The baby-faced opener played with great composure and kept a very calm temperament.  Root didn't let the situation get the better of him as he dug in for almost eight hours to rescue England from a potentially precarious situation.  

The only chance Root offered was when he on 8. An edge neatly dissected Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin as neither moved for the catch.  How they will be rueing that opportunity!  Root took on every bowler and caressed the ball throughout his innings.  Joe Root definitely has what it takes to be an opener for England for many years to come.

Just in case, Root's efforts with the bat weren't sufficient, he picked up two vital wickets bowling his off-spin.  Clarke and Usman Khawaja had shown some character batting second time round, with both players scoring half centuries.  However, the Yorkshireman dismissed them both in consecutive overs to soon put Australia back in their place.

When England set Australia an incredulous 582 runs to win the match, it was a declaration Steve Waugh would have been proud of.  Again as a youngster, I saw Waugh captain Australia for many years and run England ragged in the field until there was no more left in the tank.  The door was always slammed shut on England, never left ajar to find a way back into a match.  Mental disintegration was what Waugh was all about.  Grind the opposition down; and that's exactly what England did.  

The inexperience and lack of control of Ashton Agar and Steve Smith meant they could not hold an end down.  This resulted in the pace attack bowling longer and more frequent spells than desired by Australia as England built up their mammoth target.

Compare that to Graeme Swann who took 9 for 122 the match.  Swann is a world class bowler and his consistency with the ball is a real weapon for Alistair Cook - especially on a surface like Lord's which had craters on day 4.  This meant not only was Swann a wicket taking threat, but the pacemen could also be rotated to be used efficiently.

The only disappointment for England will be the left calf strain Kevin Pietersen picked up. There is a chance that he might miss the Third Test that starts in 10 days; which would be an interesting dilemma for the England selectors.  

However, seeing England dominate and boss this game the way they did will be what is at the forefront of everyone's minds.  England have now won four consecutive Ashes matches, can they make it five at Old Trafford?  If Australia's batsmen fail to deliver again, it will be five.

England hold their nerve to clinch first Ashes Test

Who needs to go to a theme park to get their thrills when this first Ashes Test had everything a roller-coaster could offer? Highs, lows, a quick double loop as we waited for the third umpire's decision. This Test had it all.

Ashes cricket is all about who handles that pressure cooker atmosphere the best.  Who keeps calm when the temperature is reaching boiling point.  Who stands up when everyone else is falling to the wayside.

Today that man was Jimmy Anderson.  At the start of the day Australia needed a further 137 runs, or England needed to take 4 wickets to win the Test.  Anderson bowled a Herculean spell of 13 overs unchanged.  Anderson's persistent probing and searching for the edge resulted in 3 for 29.  All the wickets were b Anderson c Cook.  

Bowling such a lengthy spell takes great effort.  Anderson was like the Duracell bunny.  He just kept going and going.  Eventually Anderson's body gave in to cramp and he briefly left the field. The  job was still unfinished at lunch.  Australia now needed 20 runs, or England that one, so far elusive, wicket.  

Anderson recharged his batteries during the interval and was once again roaring in at Brad Haddin and James Patterson.  In his second over after lunch, Anderson put an end to Haddin's dogged resistance as he edged behind to Matt Prior.  Third umpire Marias Erasmus was required to confirm the edge, and he ruled in England's favour.

As the England team saw confirmation of the final wicket on the big screen, Anderson led the way to celebrate, just as he had led the bowling attack.  Anderson finished with 10 wickets for 158 runs in the match, with 5 wickets in each innings.  That was an outstanding return on this slow, dry Trent Bridge wicket.  In addition, Anderson was constantly offering support to his fellow pacemen, Stuart Broad and Steven Finn.

At the start of the series, Anderson was England's joint 3rd leading test wicket taker with 307 wickets, same as Fred Trueman.  Now Anderson is 8 wickets behind Bob Willis, then only the great Sir Ian Botham is front of him with 383 wickets.

Aged 30, providing Anderson stays fit, there is no reason why he will not end his career as England's leading test wicket taker of all time.  What a long way he has come from being the lad from Burnley with dyed hair.

Spare a thought for Haddin who in scoring a determined 71 runs took Australia to the brink of victory.  Haddin batted like a tenacious boxer; a jab and blow here, a solid defensive shot there.  This is one man who knows how to fight.  There was a feel of Edgbaston 2005 about today.  That iconic image of Brett Lee being consoled by Andrew Flintoff when Australia fell 2 runs short, was not re-created to the same extent today.  But Anderson did have a prolonged handshake with Haddin and some words of consolation.

This series is not going to be the one sided affair that some predicted.  As the Aussies showed today, they aren't going to go down without a fight.  The roller-coaster ride begins again on Thursday at Lord's.  Make sure you are strapped in as it could be a bumpy ride.

Foxes on fire as they defeat the Outlaws

Leicestershire Foxes served up a brilliant team performance to beat the mighty Nottinghamshire Outlaws by 7 wickets.  Until now, the Outlaws were undefeated in the T20 campaign and had only lost once in the YB40 this year.  So something special was going to be needed to even considering beating them; and last night certainly was special as Graceland became dreamland.  A crowd of over 3,000 people witnessed a performance that brought back memories of that successful T20 campaign of 2011.  

Youngster Shiv Thakor took a great low running catch to dismiss Michael Lumb.  Thakor then went on bowl a spell that had immense control and a maturity well beyond his 19 years. Coming on to bowl the last 4 overs of the innings, Thakor took 3-30 and helped contain Notts to 158 for 6 from their 20 overs.

Tight bowling from Leicestershire's captain Josh Cobb and overseas player Shakib Al Hasan also helped Leicestershire's cause.  Just as Thakor showed control and maturity with the ball, Cobb demonstrated the same with the bat.  Cobb took the responsibility of playing the anchor role and went on to make 67 not out from 52 balls and batted through the entire innings.

In previous matches, Leicestershire have been guilty of wanting to whack very ball out of the ground and becoming unstuck.  But Cobb mixed his 7 fours and a six with an array of delicate shots and picking up singles.  Cobb's anchor role allowed Al Hasan to tee off.  The BPL Dhaka Gladiators teammates put on unbeaten partnership of 67 from 43 balls.  

Al Hasan's 43 not out from 21 balls was his first real success for the Foxes with the bat.  The highlight being 2 consecutive sixes from the last 2 balls of a Graham White over.  Al Hasan's 43 included 3 fours and 3 sixes.  Cobb and Al Hasan's different batting styles made it a very dangerous and productive combination for Leicestershire.

Just as the sun was shining on Grace Road, lady luck was also shining on Leicestershire as some very average fielding by Nottinghamshire saw them drop at least 3 catches.  

Cobb hammered the ball for a boundary in the 18th over to bring up the victory.  Hopefully, the nature of the win and the support of the crowd will boost Leicestershire.  They have a foot on the first rung of the ladder of success.  Let's hope the rest of the T20 campaign sees Leicestershire climb that ladder.

The only disappointment for Leicestershire was that Jigar Naik suffered a dislocated shoulder whilst fielding off his own bowling.  This is will a real blow to Leicestershire.  After Naik missed most of last season with an ankle injury, this will be a bitter pill to swallow for the spinner.  However, Naik has come back so strongly this season after his last injury, I have every confidence he will come back even stronger after this latest setback.

Ashes Prediction

It is the eve of the Ashes and as the temperature soars outside, Ashes fever soars across the country.  On the back of an incredibly successful weekend for British sport that saw an Ashes victory in the rugby, and Andy Murray ending a 77 year wait for a male Wimbledon winner, a nation expects.

Previously, we might have dared to whisper that we're in with a shout to win the Ashes.  Such has been the contrasting forms of the the teams over the years that we're now shouting it from the roof tops that we can beat the Aussies.  Sir Ian Botham is making a 10-0 prediction over the home and away legs.

Whilst I believe England win will the Ashes, I think the series will be closer than many initially thought.  Since Darren Lehmann's appointment as coach a fortnight ago, Australia have gone from strength to strength.  "Boof" is a determined character, like a dog with a bone. He just doesn't know when to give up - and that will be what he is trying to instil to the Aussies.

However, in Andy Flower England have a coach that knows what it takes to win the Ashes.  Having helped England to a victory in the 2009 home series, Flower ended 24 years of hurt by orchestrating an amazing away Ashes series win in 2011 too.

The Zimbabwean won't be affected by the hype and the unusual tag of "Ashes favourites". Flower's thorough and methodical work ethic will ensure the England team also keep their feet firmly on the ground.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is more overcast then of late.  An ideal start would be for Alistair Cook to win the toss at Trent Bridge and for Jimmy Anderson to exploit the conditions to get some early wickets.

My prediction is 3-1 to England with a victory at Trent Bridge to get England on the journey to retaining the Ashes.  What a glorious summer of sport this could turn out to be.

2 T20 defeats in 2 days for Young Foxes

 Leicestershire's T20 campaign got off to an awful start with two defeats in two days.  On Friday, Leicestershire batted first and made 183 runs.  But they never looked like defending the score as Nottinghamshire reached their target with 7 wickets in hand and 14 balls to spare.

Yesterday, captain Josh Cobb won the toss and elected to field first on a gloriously sunny afternoon at Grace Road.  This decision may be due to Friday's result when the bowlers could could defend a very good T20 score.

It made no difference to the result.  This time, Leicestershire's batting imploded chasing 174 to win giving Derbyshire a 24 run victory.  Leicestershire were 149 all out after 18.2 overs.

This is a very young Leicestershire side who are still learning.  They don't have the experience of Paul Nixon, Claude Henderson, Abdul Razzaq, Will Jefferson and Andrew McDonald, to name but a few, from the winning 2011 T20 campaign.  We must not forget that.

A very good example of youth coming of age, has been 22 year old Cobb's impressive season as captain.  His own form has gone from strength-to-strength since taking charge.  Cobb's three YB40 centuries in successive matches being the pinnacle.

Yet whenever Cobb does fail with bat, the team seem to lose their way and panic.  Yesterday was a prime example of that.  Cobb made a brilliant 47 off 26 balls to setup a good platform.  When he was dismissed, the score was 54 for 1 in the 6th over and a victory still on the cards. 

However, the Foxes lost 4 middle order wickets for 4 runs in the space of 11 balls, losing the way completely in this run chase.  Following the captain's dismissal, Leicestershire lost 9 wickets for 95 runs in 13 overs.

Cobb was very frank in his post match interview.  He expressed his disappointment with the result and rued the soft nature of the batsmen's dismissals.

The bowling attack also appeared to need a wiser head to turn to.  Leicestershire's three winning T20 campaigns have always centred on good bowling by taking the pace off the ball.  So I was surprised that Leicestershire didn't bolster their bowling by including Jigar Naik in the final 11 to support Cobb and Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan.

The T20 is Leicestershire's best chance of success this season.   They have been firmly at the bottom of division 2 of the County Champion for most of the season.  The YB40 campaign got off to a great start with the 3 consecutive victories; but his has been followed by 3 defeats.  A financially struggling club like Leicestershire needs a good T20 campaign.

In both matches so far, you would have backed Leicestershire as favourites at the mid-innings interval, so it is a bitter pill to swallow for this young Foxes team.  Leicestershire have now lost their last 5 games in all competitions.  The Foxes don't play until Friday now.  It will be a good opportunity for them to re-group and attempt to find that winning habit again.

Finally, during yesterday's match a little boy called Archie was struck in the back of the head by a ball Derbyshire's Chesney Hughes hit for 6.  I'm pleased to say Archie is fine and he high-fived a very apologetic Hughes at the end of the game.  Archie also received some signed memorabilia from Hughes.  That'll be a story to tell everyone when he grows up.

India win Champions Trophy as England self-destruct

Cricket is a game full of what ifs and maybes, and that is definitely what England will be saying as they assess their capitulation in the final of the Champions Trophy that led to them losing to India by 5 runs.

A final almost didn't take place due to the persistent heavy rain that fell over Edgbaston.  Play finally started at 4.20pm and the game was reduced to a 20-over competition.  This decision would have pleased an Indian team coming into this tournament on the back of the IPL.  Yes the sell out, patient crowd deserved to see a match; but how fair is it to reduce a final from 50 to 20 overs each because there is no reserve day?  

Apparently, the International schedule did not allow for a reserve day because England are due to play New Zealand in a T20 match on Tuesday in a completely pointless 2-match T20 series.  The two teams must be sick at the sight of each other.  They have played 15 matches against each other in all formats of the game in the last 5 months, in addition to the two T20s scheduled for next week.

England might still have lost to India in a 50 over final.  But the reduced overs is something to consider especially when Alistair Cook cannot get into England's T20 team.

England will also be wondering what would have happened if they'd fielded better. In the 3rd over, Tim Bresnan wildly threw the ball high to Jos Buttler and it went for 4 overthrows because Eoin Morgan was not backing up properly.  Morgan also gave away another single overthrow a few overs later.  

During the 8th over, Bresnan made a sliding stop on the boundary and appeared to save 2 runs.  However, as the new father pushed the boundary back whilst diving, it was harshly given four and Bresnan picked up the ball where the boundary should have been.  I'm unsure quite how the umpire managed to make that call.

Jonathan Trott dropped Virat Kohli who added another 7 seven runs before he was out.  These incidents may seem immaterial, but they all contributed to India's 129 runs, which were crucially five more runs than England could manage.

England's response with the bat gave them more "if only"situations than in the field.  Ian Bell was adjudged to be stumped by Australian third umpire, Bruce Oxenford, in ridiculous fashion.  

When Bell's foot was in the air, the stumps moved as MS Dhoni went to break the wicket. However, by the time the wicket was actually broken and the bail out of the grooves, Bell's foot was back behind the line.  All the replays showed this, so I don't know what conclusive evidence Oxenford had to give Bell out.

England's batsmen panicked and when Ishant Sharma picked up the wickets of Morgan and Ravi Bopara in consecutive deliveries, after he had bowled two wides in the same over, it just that today would not be England's day.

This was in stark comparison to earlier when Bopara bowled brilliantly to finish with 3 for 20 off 4 overs.  The pinnacle being a double wicket maiden when he removed Suresh Raina, and the Indian captain for a duck.

England's unfunny comedy of errors as was summed up when Bresnan was run out after an lbw appeal was turned down.  There wasn't a run to attempt, so again, if only he'd stayed in the crease rather rather being stranded half way down.

15 runs from the last over was too much for Stuart Broad and James Tredwell to score. The rest, as they say, is history.  England are still waiting to make history and win their first 50-over International tournament.  It might have been a 20-over match today, but the trophy was theirs for the taking.

 

We often accuse South Africa of being chokers.  But England have now twice been in the Champions Trophy final in England, and lost when they were in the driving seat.  In 2004, the West Indies lower order held their nerve to chase down 218 with 2 wickets to spare as England sprayed the ball.

Credit to India though.  They have been the form team of the tournament and remained unbeaten throughout.  129 runs didn't seem enough at the innings break, but Dhoni knew exactly when and how to utilise his bowlers.  Shikhar Dhawan and Ravindra Jadeja picked up the Golden Bat and Golden Boot awards respectively.

But for all of England's good work in getting to the final, they must be thinking of all the missed chances and opportunities that might have got them over the line and in doing so, 38 years of waiting for a 50-over trophy.