Jonathan Trott and the science of selfishness

England batsman Jonathan Trott, who has scored 2319 from 28 Tests at 52.70, is being touted as England’s best number three in a generation. Tom Fordyce, who interviewed the batsman for bbc.co.uk, writes that though Trott appears to have been born for Test cricket, he began his career as a reckless batsman who tried to hit the ball all round the ground.

You think you know Jonathan Trott as a batsman - obdurate, intensely focused, obsessed with accumulating runs, a player who appears to have been born for long Test innings. It's the first of many misconceptions. "I haven't always been like this," Trott says, surprised. "It's something I've developed and worked on. As a young player I was actually quite a reckless batsman. I get bored quite easily, and I'd often try to hit the ball all round the ground. But as I got older I began to realise what batting was all about. I watched a lot of great players to see what you need to be successful at the top level."