Trott forgets his Ps and Qs
England v Banglandesh, 1st test day 1: England 362/4, Strauss 83, Trott 175*
Jonathan Trott has become the latest to use a test match against Only Bangladesh to boost his batting average. His unbeaten 175 on the 1st day could be evidence of deep reserves of mental strength after a torrid winter. Or it might not be.
But here’s a stat to consider. If Trott adds a further 25 runs on the 2nd morning, he will have scored a double century. Since 1985, only seven English batsmen have achieved this in a test innings: Graham Gooch (twice), Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Marcus Trescothick, Rob Key, Paul Collingwood and Kevin Pietersen (all once) [1]. That’s a pretty select group whichever way you look at it.
Virender Sehwag has scored 6 double or triple hundreds by himself in a fraction of that 25 year period [2]. Even Wasim Jaffer has two [3]. Imagine how many honours Paul Collingwood would have after his name if he had two double hundreds.
Jonathan Trott’s South African instincts take over as he spots a minnow bowler that has been separated from the herd
So whilst there will be plenty of grinding of teeth and naysaying about Trott’s innings here, and it does seem to be en vogue to criticise the man at the moment, that Bangladeshi bowling still has to be put away. Just ask Ian Bell, who had his average against them reduced to a measly 168 today after being dismissed for just 17.
The lack of double hundreds in general for England batsmen can be put down to two things – firstly, during the late eighties and throughout the nineties they were rubbish.
Not the sort of rubbish you would neatly separate out to be recycled, the kind that makes you pull a disgusted face and retch at the smell before flushing it down the toilet at arms length.
The almost-double century
Since then things have improved and England, and especially Michael Vaughan, perfected the art of scoring an almost-double century. It became a sort of ritual tease, batting for hours without a care in the world, convincing everyone that they were about to do it before nicking a medium pacer on 187.
So whilst before the problem for England’s batsmen used to be going on from a score of 60, these days it tends to be going on from a score 0f 130 that gets them all a-flutter.
This second factor is a peculiarly English fragility – the fear of being seen to be greedy and merciless. You know – “oh, I’ve scored my hundred, I’ll take it easy now and give these chaps a bit of a sporting chance”. It’s an important part of the Englishman’s treasured Ps & Qs.
When Gooch scored his wonderfully symetrical 333 against India at Lord’s, the sound that accompanied every milestone was not applause but tutting at such an outrageous display of rubbing it in. What he should have done was sacrificed his wicket at 140 to give someone else a turn and let the bowlers have something to cheer.
Trott being South African means he isn’t aware of this subtle etiquette. For many English observers, Trott has already crossed the line by reaching 175, so the best thing he can do on day 2 is have a hit and get out for 194. The gloriousness of “so near yet so far” could be his redemption.
Watch instead as his South African instincts lead him to grind the minnow bowlers into the dust, pounding them endlessly while grown men plead with him to “stop hurting the little ones”.
Footnotes
[1] – Source
[2] – Source
[3] – Source
[4] – Images on this post are courtesy of Sarah Canterbury
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