EveryJoe » stress

Tresco won’t tour yet

SixandOut — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 17:15:01 +0000

Marcus Trescothick announced today that he won’t take part in any England duty for the timebeing, ruling himself out of the Twenty20 World Cup and the Winter tours to New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Despite being in good form for Somerset, he expressed his concerns at playing for England and wanted to be sure that he was completely over his stress-related illness before playing again.

Quite right too. There’s been so much fuss over the team recently and we’re finally getting some stability. Peter Moores is doing a good job at the top. Micheal Vaughan seems to be over the worst of his injury. Matt Prior has established himself as the England ‘keeper. And we’re absolutely overflowing with batsmen at the moment, so why should Tresco just waltz back in to the side?

Because he’s probably the best batsman in the country, that’s why. OK, so he deserves a place in the England side, but only when he’s absolutely sure that his pork pie is back on the picnic rug. Until then, he should be away from the England fold.

Which he is, so it’s all good.

Post from: EveryJoe

Tresco won’t tour yet

Tresco back on track?

SixandOut — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:23:57 +0000

After Marcus Trecothick’s epic departure from the Ashes, which was the catalyst for the England top order’s abject failure to score anything like a decent total ever since, he’s put the cat amongst the pigeons once again by showing us exactly what we’re missing in the side at the moment. After surgery for a double-hernia and presumably a recovery from the mystery stress-related illness that kept him out of the Champions Trophy as well as the Ashes, Tresco’s first outing for Somerset wasn’t a gentle run about in the park – it was a brutal annihilation who was foolhardy enough to bowl at him. Admittedly, it was only against a minor county bowling attack and at Taunton which is one of the smaller county grounds, but still, 256 off 117 balls is nothing short of remarkable. I especially enjoyed Robert Dawson’s comment, after Tresco was run out:

“That was the probably the only way we’d have got him out. There was a chance he might have got 400 – I think there were about 20 overs left in the innings,” Dawson added.

Crikey. Of course, all this has done is build the speculation on whether Tresco should be playing for England. This is only one innings but given the recent performances of the England side, they could use all the help they could get. He certainly has the form to play – but does he have the mental fortitude? Should he even be allowed to play again, after twice ditching the England side?

My gut feeling is no, he shouldn’t. The England side needs form, but it also needs consistency and to have Tresco’s mental well-being as a constant concern would not help build that consistency, especially when the younger players, such as Ravi Bopara are taking every opportunity to make a mark on the side. If Tresco said he was fit to play, would we really be able to believe him?

However, there’s a feeling of “cutting off your nose to spite your face about it” as Trescothick is undoubtely one of, if not the, best opening batsman in England and he could make a massive difference on the England line-up. Emphasis on the “could”. At the moment, it’s wait-and-see time. But before long, the question will need to be answered and there’s no easy answer.

What do you think?

{democracy:16}

Post from: EveryJoe

Tresco back on track?

Selection dilemma #2 sorted

SixandOut — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:20:21 +0000

Wow, we’re flying through them now. First Jones gets the nod over Read behind the stumps, and now we know that Cook, Bell and Collingwood will play in the side, since Marcus Trescothick’s pork pie has rolled off his picnic blanket again and decided to depart early from Australia. Harsh? Maybe.

Trescothick is citing the same reason’s that forced him home early from India and to miss the Champions Trophy – a miscellaneous stress-related illness. At the time I questioned whether he should still be considered for selection for the Ashes, but he assured everyone he was ready to play in the Ashes. Well that all turned out to be a load of bollocks, because he’s on a flight home. Not a great deal else can be said for what’ll happen to him, but it doesn’t look too good for his England future. At least it has happened now, whilst there’s still some time left to balance out the side again (even if it does put the arse on my predictions for the side.)

There’s no need to be worried though, he’s already got the lucrative central contract, and no doubt he’ll get the invite for the next series of Strictly Come Plate Spinning any day now.

Post from: EveryJoe

Selection dilemma #2 sorted