Trescothick admits Test future is in doubt

Marcus Trescothick will play no part for England during their winter tours © Getty Images

After announcing his withdrawal from England's squad for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa this September, Marcus Trescothick has admitted his future at the highest level is in doubt.

It is the third time in as many winter tours that Trescothick has withdrawn from England duty, following his early departures from the India trip last March and the Ashes tour in November. On this occasion he has given the ECB plenty notice of his unavailability, but he realises that they won't necessarily come calling again for future tours.

"I can only do my job and let the selectors and the ECB take care of that side of it, but it's not rocket science to work out what is going to happen," said Trescothick. "Time is going on, and naturally people will make their own minds up. But I've still got aspirations of getting back - and I believe I will get back. But it's not a simple road, and I can only assess it as I play for Somerset."

Trescothick's stress-related illness has been shrouded in mystery for 18 months, ever since he flew home from India in tears. But, with his wife Hayley expecting the couple's second child in January, he feels that now is not the time to be away from home - regardless of the attractiveness of the two-week, low-profile Twenty20 format.

"It was relatively hard and it would have been a lovely situation to get back in this winter, but I knew as the days went on and the way things were progressing that I wasn't quite ready for it yet," said Trescothick. "The baby is due in January and I have looked at that. My family is important to me, but it was more about other factors."

"I can't go into details as it's quite a personal thing," he said, "but I'm working with different people, trying to address problems that have happened in the past and trying to move on and find ways of coping with times when I don't feel so good. I can only control what's important to me and that's making sure I get back fit enough to give myself a chance of coming back and being as good and better than I was before.

"You spend so much time away from home now, and that's something I will have to deal with if I make it back and play for England," he said. "But every England game I saw on TV, I thought I would love to be back there. I saw the crowds and the lads playing, and it brought back memories of playing for England.

"I thought I would love to have a crack at it - but then when I thought about it in depth I realised I wasn't ready to go yet. As time went on, it wasn't the right decision to make. If I get to the point where I believe it's not going to happen, I'll make a decision on that then. But while I have aspirations, I'm not going to give that a thought."