Trott is England's rock
He might not have the flair of a Lara or a Sehwag, but Jonathan Trott's remarkably successful run has allowed England to bat around him and he performs a crucial role for the team, writes John Stern in his blog with The Cricketer
Liam Brickhill
25-Feb-2013
He might not have the flair of a Lara or a Sehwag, but Jonathan Trott's remarkably successful run has allowed England to bat around him and he performs a crucial role for the team, writes John Stern in his blog with The Cricketer. After a brief wobble during the winter in South Africa, Trott "has gone back to basics and the results, if not the process, are eye-watering".
Since the start of May 2010, he has scored 1,317 Test runs at 94, 72 more runs than the next man on the list Sachin Tendulkar (1,245 at 77). The others with 1,000 or more are Alastair Cook (1,125 at 66), Jacques Kallis (1,104 at 110) and Virender Sehwag (1,003 at 52).
If one looks beyond the averages to the strike-rates, it gets interesting. Of the 20 leading Test run-scorers since May last year, only Sehwag has a strike-rate above 65 runs per 100 balls. His is 89. Trott’s is a steady 50, three an over. Others in the top 10 are slightly higher than that but not much. Tendulkar, for example, is 51. Others of note include Shane Watson whose strike-rate is 48 and Rahul Dravid 41.
Liam Brickhill is a freelance journalist based in Cape Town