Trescothick clarifies international intentions

Marcus Trescothick is adamant his decision to retire from international cricket is binding, contrary to the impression he may have given during an interview on Sky Sports News. Trescothick told the channel he missed the buzz of playing for his country "every day" but clarified on the Somerset CCC website that he will not return to internationals.

"I have no plans to return to international cricket," he confirmed, "for all the good reasons that have already been explained at length. I am committed to continuing my career with Somerset and understand that people may wish to try and continually link me with a return to England, but that will just not happen."

Trescothick withdrew from consecutive winter tours to India and Australia after suffering from a stress-related illness, and has not featured in the England set-up since the summer of 2006. Despite seemingly hinting at a comeback, he officially announced his international retirement at the end of March, after pulling out at the last minute from Somerset's pre-season trip to Abu-Dhabi.

All his energies are being concentrated on the start of a new county season with Somerset, but confusion arose when he spoke to Sky Sports News. He appeared to suggest that, at the age of 32, the chance might one day arise for him to pick up where he left off in the international arena. "It's never an easy decision, of course it's not," he said of his retirement. "But I think it was inevitable at that point that it was the best thing to do for all parties.

"It was time to move on, draw a line under that part of my life and my career that had gone by, which was great fun but it's time now to challenge myself in different areas at Taunton and hopefully we can do well and make things happen here."

But Trescothick was asked whether he misses playing for England, to which he said: "Of course I do, every day, and I'll get that for the rest of my life. The buzz you have from international games in front of a full house at Lord's is irreplaceable. But you sacrifice that at different times for things which are more important to me. I've made the right decision and we'll move on from there."

As for the future, Trescothick would not be drawn: "We'll see how it goes," he said. "I'm not going to set targets or deadlines or anything at the moment, I'll just continue to do the right thing for myself and make sure my health is the most important thing."