Vaughan believes Trescothick could return
Michael Vaughan believes that Marcus Trescothick's decision not to take part in September's Twenty20 World Championship - or the tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand which follow - could yet help save his international career
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Many players and pundits, including Graham Thorpe, who himself went through a similar period of international exile, believe that Trescothick's decision could spell the end of his 76-Test career, but Vaughan, speaking on the eve of England's second Test against India at Trent Bridge, held the opposite view.
"It can't have been easy for him to say he's not going to tour with England because I know he's desperate to get out there and play," said Vaughan. "But I think by making this decision it could give him a chance of playing again. The last thing I wanted was for him to come out and play too soon because I thought that could be the end of him."
Trescothick has not featured in England's plans since he withdrew from England's tour of Australia last November, citing a recurrence of the stress-related illness that had forced him home from the Test series in India eight months earlier. "Unless you've actually been through a stress-related illness I don't think any of us can understand what he's going through," said Vaughan. "We can all have an opinion but I have every respect for the decision he's made and a lot of respect for the way he's coped with it over the last few months, because it can't have been easy.
"It's a completely individual thing that he's had to do," added Vaughan. "It must be very difficult after what he's gone through because I know the one thing that Tres loves doing more than anything is playing cricket for England. He's not ready at the minute and he's got to have a bit more time and hopefully that time will get him in the right frame of mind and get his body right to make sure he will play again."
Rahul Dravid, India's captain, sympathised with Trescothick's situation, and admitted that the sheer weight of matches being played these days can take its toll on all players. "One needs to devise strategies to cope," he said. "Some years can be tough, some put a lot of pressure on you, especially for countries like India - we don't have a set summer as such.
"From a captaincy point of view you have to manage your situation and your players," said Dravid. "In July we can be in West Indies some year, England some other year. We're usually not in India in November - our winter when we should be playing. With a lot of cricket being played these days, it's a question of how people are going to cope."
Even if Trescothick does get back to the right frame of mind for international cricket, the success with which his replacement, Alastair Cook, has bedded into the Test side, means he may no longer be an automatic choice. "It's not nice when a senior player can't play but what it does do is create opportunities," said Vaughan. "Cook is playing very well and we've got guys waiting in the wings who are playing well in the county games who, given their opportunity I'm sure would do very well as well.
"We're trying to build up as big a pool of players as we can to be available and good enough to play Test and one-day cricket for England," said Vaughan. "We think we're getting pretty close to that."
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