Jonathon Trott - England's Mr. Reliable

In the semifinal, he with a touch of calm countenance systematically reduced South Africa’s meticulously well thought-out plans into a lottery. Yes, England’s stratagem of playing out the new ball has been bemoaned by critics. But in reality, it has worked for them in the Champions Trophy.

It is hard to fathom why Trott gets so much flak from critics, as barring a few games, Trott has on numerous occasions risen like a knight in shining armour to shepherd England to safety. He has even been able to inject the much needed pace into the innings.

A case in point being, his century at Sydney in a one-day match in 10/11. In-spite of Trott’s well-paced hundred that helped England to put up a mammoth score on the board, they lost. Now, it wasn’t Trott’s fault that bowlers lost the plot completely, and leaked runs at a crucial juncture of the match. Interestingly, as soon as England win a game or two, Trott is hailed as the man for the crisis. The typical volte-face by the media smells of hypocrisy.

England’s think-tank though, seem to have complete faith in Trott’s abilities. With the all-important Ashes series looming on the horizon, the solidarity that Trott brings to England’s line-up may prove to be the telling difference between two sides.

The last time, arch-rivals, England and Australia met in the Ashes series, Australian pacers couldn’t decipher Trott’s simple yet effective method of batsmanship. Everytime, they looked to bowl at the stumps, Trott sent the ball scurrying to the mid-wicket boundary. Whenever they adjusted their lines by bowling outside the off-stump, Trott, showed exemplary judgement to either leave the ball, or penetrate the interstices of the off-side field with drives. Down under, he played like a courageous conquistador.

It isn’t just against pace bowling that Trott has made an indelible mark, as he has delivered the goods while playing spin-dominated attacks too. In the recently concluded test series in India, Trott, played a typical tenacious knock in the final test at Nagpur. A few seasons back in UAE in a Test series against Pakistan, he was the only one who showed a semblance of fight, while facing up-to the canny Ajmal. Trott has come a long way from the days when he was at sixes and sevens against unheralded spinners from the subcontinent in the Lombard under-15 World Cup held in England in ’96.

Trott is your quintessential perfectionist. From marking his guard, or with his bottom-handed grip flicking it through the on-side, Trott wants everything to be picture-perfect. His detractors lampoon about Trott being too staid, and always struck in second gear. But the unfazed Trott seems to have banished all those thoughts. One wonders, whether his brain is computerized to only make mountains of runs, and build large edifices for his team. In short, here is a cricketer who is imbued with a winning mentality.