Burnout caused Trott’s Ashes exit

Mental ‘burnout’, not depression, was behind Jonathan Trott’s sudden withdrawal from England’s Ashes tour of Australia, according to the batsman who is now eager to resume his international career.

Trott left the tour after England were thrashed in the first Test in November with what was reported to be a ‘stress-related’ illness, but the South Africa-born 32-year-old has refuted suggestions he was suffering with depression.

“People come up to you and say, ‘it’s good to see you’re out and about’ and I’m like, ‘I’m not crazy, I was just burnt out!’,” Trott told Sky Sports.

“It’s pretty difficult to put into words the emotions to walk away from an Ashes tour – it’s something I never thought I’d have to do and something I hope no cricketer has to do again.

“It was the right decision, no doubt. It was something that came about through no one else’s fault other than the situation I found myself in wanting to do so well for England.”

After-effects

Trott’s second-innings dismissal by Mitchell Johnson at the Gabba was described by Australian batsman David Warner as ‘weak’, prompting then England coach Andy Flower to accuse the hosts of being disrespectful to the ailing batsman.

“I remember day two or day three, it was a bit of a blur, I was getting headaches and all sorts of things and I wasn’t eating properly towards the end and that’s when the sleep started getting disruptive and emotionally that was probably when I was worst and it just boiled over.

“I had nothing left in the tank or the battery – mentally and emotionally pretty drained and had nothing left to give really.”

Trott said he had felt guilty leaving teammates to toil away for the rest of the series they lost 5-0.