'Of course I was still good enough, I just needed to remember'

In the first of our regular feature, the Wisden Wednesday Interview, Andrew Miller talks to Marcus Trescothick on playing in the subcontinent, his dip in form last summer and missing out on the captaincy.

Your record in the subcontinent is pretty special. You must be happy to be back here.
It's actually pretty hard work in subcontinent. It's a completely different environment out here, although I do seem to have done well on my previous trips. After a while, you can begin to believe your own publicity, because so many people keep telling me how good my record is. But I have enjoyed playing here. I've learned a lot about spin, about coping with the conditions, and about understanding how you've got to play it.

For such a fine player of spin, you don't move your feet much. What's your secret?
Maybe I've developed my own style. Certainly, I've talked a lot with Duncan over the last couple of years, and I've also been lucky to come to this part of world a lot as well. In fact, we've all been lucky in that respect - the nucleus of the top five are all familiar with the conditions, and from a team point of view that makes a huge difference. But I've worked out my own gameplan, and it seems to work very well so far - maybe I've been a bit lucky.

There's more to it than that though. How do you cope with this oppressive heat?
As a team, we've trained really hard in the last five or six weeks, and we haven't let up since we arrived. But when you're out in the middle, that's when it really kicks in - when you're hot and tired, and really dehydrated because you're sweating so much. At times like that, it's your mind that has to take over and you just have to focus as much as you can.

And it will get harder. Even in the last game where I got 96, that was hard work - you just have to keep going. But if I'm out there for four or five hours, their bowlers are bound to be feeling the conditions far more acutely than I will. The longer we can bat, the harder it is for them and the easier it becomes for us.

Last summer, you'd been under a bit of pressure for the first time in your career, until that double century at The Oval ...
To be honest, the critics didn't bother me. It was more my personal pride that was hurting - I just wanted to feel good again. That wasn't so much to show other people, but to show myself I was still good enough. Maybe I'd allowed a few doubts to creep in. It's only natural when you go through rough trots, you begin to wonder if you are keeping up with the pace, if you're still good enough anymore. Of course I was still good enough, I just needed to remember. But during that game, and towards the end of the summer, it all seemed so simple - and clear again.

Did you genuinely fear for your place at that time?
Well, I've never yet been dropped for bad form - touch wood. Obviously, I've been through periods of form where it's not gone too well, but the structure of the English game has changed that little bit these days. It would be the same for anyone in the side, everyone gets a bit more of a run. When you're an established member of the team, you tend to be given a chance to bounce back. That's the way we operate these days.

Were you disappointed to be overlooked for the captaincy?
Of course, I'd have liked to have done the job. I was ready to take it on. But it's not something that's bothered me. Sure, I was a little disappointed not to get it, but I'm enjoying my cricket, and that's the most important thing. As Michael admitted when he first took over, he needs a lot of help and I'm always ready to play my part - that's part and parcel of being in a team. It's not something I've dwelled on.

How are you coping with this frenzied international schedule?
It gets pretty demanding after a while. We are away from home for so long, playing both forms of the game, and I imagine that careers will be shorter as a result. Players will get tired, and of course we all miss our families. It's something the ICC needs to look at.

You're not thinking of retirement just yet, are you?
I'm not married, and I have no kids, so I've given no thoughts whatsoever to retirement from either form of the game - quite simply I'm enjoying myself too much. Maybe in three years' time I might think of knocking it on the head in one form or the other. But definitely not yet.

All these tours are demanding, but nothing more than that. I do get tired and I do need a break now and again - between the end of the English summer and this winter programme, we had four weeks off. I mean, what can you do in four weeks? Somehow you need to shorten the time that players spend away from their families - maybe that means they travel with the team more often, or perhaps there should be a break in mid-series.

Who are the toughest opponents you've faced down the years?
Everybody has their moments where they get a working-over. Jason Gillespie is one of the better bowlers I've faced, while Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath are both world-class bowlers. But I'd have to say Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan are the toughest two I've come up against. You tend to have different battles with different people, and sometimes the battles you have with spinners last that little bit longer, so maybe I've developed a bit more respect for them.

Last summer, there was some suggestion that you might benefit from moving to No. 4 in the order.
That was all spoken about in the press. Nothing entered our minds; at least, not that I know of - I certainly wasn't told if it did! But that's the sort of thing that comes out when you are not doing very well. Quite simply, I wasn't getting enough runs. It wasn't something that came to my mind.