Last week we admitted that Jonathan Trott had proved us wrong not one, not two, but three times since making his infamous England debut at the Oval in 2009.
And today, he made it four.
Our one remaining doubt about Trott was that his main strength - his exemplary powers of concentration - arguably became a significant weakness for him in limited overs cricket.
Let us explain. Trott clearly loves batting and once he has played himself in seems to become the boy in the bubble (maybe that was what Paul Simon was singing about?) and is oblivious to anything but putting bat on ball and grinding out the runs. We’re not sure for instance if he actually pays any attention to the scoreboard.
That is fine in Test cricket, where Trott’s astounding powers of concentration have allowed him to have the second highest average ever of any batsman with more than 20 Test innings.
But in ODIs, we believed that once in his bubble, Trott was unable to recognise when the match situation demanded a change of pace and for him to move between the gears.
Well, Trott has proved us wrong again. Today, he timed his acceleration perfectly to lead England to their highest ODI total against Australia and compile a magnificent 137 off just 126 balls. That’s a quality one day knock in anyone’s language.
Indeed, if he hadn’t got out to the penultimate ball, Trott would have had Test and ODI averages of over 60.
Now that really is the last time that we doubt the boy in the bubble at the Reverse Sweep – there is only so much humble pie we can eat.
Where next?
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