Jonathan Trott to return to action

London: Jonathan Trott will return to action for Warwickshire as soon as they begin their pre-season in April and hopes to put himself in contention for an England comeback this summer.

Trott, 32, left England’s Ashes tour after the first Test in Brisbane with what was described as a stress-related condition following a traumatic ordeal at the hands of Mitchell Johnson.

It was the first major setback for England on a tour that was to descend into chaos and when it was revealed that Trott had long-standing mental health issues, it seemed his career at the highest level was over.

Yet, in a boost for Trott, his county and possibly the ‘new’ England, it emerged yesterday that the South African-born batsman is “raring to go” and has been earmarked to play against Gloucestershire at Edgbaston in Warwickshire’s first pre-season match.

“He’s still very hungry,” said Warwickshire chief executive Dennis Amiss, who will serve as Trott’s benefit chairman this summer.

“He wants to continue succeeding for Warwickshire and England.”

If his comeback goes to plan, Trott, who has been given permission to miss his county’s pre-season tour of Barbados, will play against Oxford University on April 7 and then the Championship opener at Edgbaston against Sussex the following week.

“He’s doing very well,” said former England batsman Amiss. “He’s had a great rest, which was very important, and he is raring to go again.

“Cricket is his passion and I believe he has the qualities to come back, score a mass of runs for Warwickshire and get himself back in the England side.”

While it is undoubtedly good news that Trott is on the mend, England will have to be certain that the problem will not recur if he again faces the stresses of top-level cricket.

They were aware of Trott’s earlier problems — and left him out of a One Day International against Australia at the Ageas Bowl last summer because of his condition — and handled his departure from Australia with great sensitivity.

Yet if he makes an immediate return to the international fold it may look as though it is permissible to quit a difficult, high-profile tour and return as soon as the going gets better, in this case when England face Scotland and then Sri Lanka early this summer before their Test series against India.

Amiss, who is undoubtedly speaking for Trott now, has no doubts. “I think the problem was essentially burn-out,” he said. “The ECB have helped him since he has been back home. Everyone has given him a lot of help. Rest is the most important thing.”

Trott is understood to have held talks with Paul Downton, the busy new England managing director, to try to convince him that he will be fit for England this summer.

And a team who are starting from scratch after the worst Ashes tour in history will not lightly turn their back on a batsman with a Test average of almost 47 and a one-day average of 51.

Yet they will have to be absolutely sure that Trott is fully fit before they welcome him back, a process he can begin by scoring runs for Warwickshire in April.

While Trott was harbouring hopes of a comeback, the biggest casualty of England’s horror show in Australia gained support from their next opponents when West Indies coach Ottis Gibson expressed his sorrow that Andy Flower had been forced out.

Flower, the most successful coach in England’s history, resigned when it became clear he could not survive the scale of England’s humiliation in all forms of cricket.

But Gibson, England’s bowling coach when Flower took over at the start of 2009, believes Flower’s many successes, including three winning Ashes series, have been forgotten amid the chaos of the team director stepping down, Kevin Pietersen being sacked and spinner Graeme Swann retiring mid-tour.

“I feel sorry for Andy Flower because I was there when he started,” said Gibson, who left England to take charge of West Indies four years ago.

“England were bowled out for 51 in Jamaica and things didn’t look good. But Andy took the team to No.1 in the world, won three Ashes series and the World Twenty20 and everything was great.

“When things changed, it seemed that one bad series made people forget about the three or four years of almost constant success. I guess that is the nature of coaching but it is still sad.”