You've scored 94 out of a team total of 231, have been the only batsman in the side to show any sort of application and but for not reading a slower ball in the last over of the match would have led your side to an unlikely (and undeserved) victory.
You'd expect to be disappointed. Gutted even. But would you expect to be lambasted and accused of batting too slowly and being one of the main reasons why your side has lost its first game ever to the minnows of international cricket?
Such is the fate of Jonathan Trott. Even the BBC News bulletin on Saturday night referred to Trott batting 'slowly' as it described England's defeat by five runs at Bristol. There were several comments in the Sky commentary box as well.
Now Trott is perhaps one of those batsmen like Jacques Kallis or Kevin Pietersen who maybe at times puts their average ahead of the team. But in this case, the Reverse Sweep believes that the criticism of Trott is grossly unfair.
Yes, Trott's strike rate was low for the majority of his innings. But considering he kept losing batting partners steadily is that any surprise? Once he found a willing partner in Stuart Broad (who at last showed that he hadn't completely forgotten which end of the bat to hold), Trott upped the ante and was very close to seeing his side over the line.
By the end of his innings Trott had scored 94 off 130 balls. That is a strike rate of 72.30, which in the context of the match was pretty good. If Trott had read that slower ball from Shafiul Islam, he probably would have got the six runs England needed from the last four balls. Then everyone would have been talking about how well-timed his knock was. Even some of the Sky commentators would have had to swallow some humble pie if they had been man enough to admit that they had been wrong.
It seems that Trott is not a cricketer that supporters, pundits or bloggers warm to. His batting certainly isn't the most attractive and the time he takes to adopt his stance can grate at times, but he has done well since he came into international cricket averaging 50 in tests and 60 in ODI - that is pretty handy by anyone's estimation. It seems that many England fans have forgotten THAT debut at The Oval.
We've criticised Trott before here at the Reverse Sweep and are still not sure that he is the answer as England's test number three, but he deserves praise not criticism for Saturday's performance.
Totally agree....total idiocy from those that criticised him.
Posted by: Cricket Burble | Tuesday, July 13, 2010 at 09:32