Trott quits Ashes Test over stress

Jonathan Trott has left the Ashes tour with a stress-related illness and Australian skipper Michael Clarke has been fined for misconduct in the fallout from the first Test.

Australian opener David Warner called the England batsman’s second-innings dismissal “weak”, while leading pundits including criticised the 32-year-old after he scored 10 and nine runs as the visitors lost by 381 runs in Brisbane.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Monday that Trott would take an indefinite break from cricket and take no further part in the five-Test tour.

However, England coach Andy Flower said he was confident that Trott could come back from illness.

“Trotty has been suffering from a stress-related condition for quite a while,” Flower said.

“He has always managed it very successfully and he has been a brilliant international batsman for England and hopefully will continue to be a brilliant international batsman for England in the future.

“But he needs time away from this environment for a while, he needs with his family, he needs time to re-assess and spend some quiet time with his family.”

England players and present expressed shock and offered support after Trott withdrew from the Ashes tour, including England all-rounder Stuart Broad.

“Love Trotty. Absolute champion of a man. He knows he has all the support of all the people around him,” Broad wrote on Twitter.

“Puts cricket in perspective.”

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said the news had come as “a real shock”, while Michael Vaughan, another former skipper, expressed regret for publicly questioning Trott’s performances.

“I do feel guilty for criticising Trott this week,” Vaughan wrote on Twitter.

“I wasn’t to know what he was going through and I can only comment on what I see.”

Trott has accumulated 3,763 runs at an average of 46.45 in his 49 Tests, but he was dismissed tamely in both innings by fiery paceman Mitchell Johnson.

He said in brief comments issued by the ECB that he could not play on in his present condition.

“I don’t feel it’s right that I’m playing, knowing that I’m not 100 percent,” Trott said.

“I cannot currently operate at the level I have done in the past. My priority now is to take a break from cricket so that I can focus on my recovery.”

Former England opener Marcus Trescothick, who left the 2006-2007 Ashes tour and quit international cricket because of depression, said news of Trott’s illness was sad.

“To come out and talk about these things for the first time is tough,” Trescothick told BBC radio.

“I’m sure he’s not feeling great at all, but he’s definitely made the right decision.”

Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff tweeted: “Trotty will be back. Over the hardest hurdle in his recovery by facing it head on, which is something we are not all able to do.”

Trott’s departure adds to the dramatic fall-out from the first Test, after Clarke was fined for telling England tail-ender James Anderson to “get ready for a broken f—ing arm”.

Warner defends himself

Before the news of Trott’s departure, Warner admitted that he “probably went a little bit too far” with his comments, which were described as “disrespectful” by England skipper Alastair Cook.

“I made those comments for a reason,” Warner said.

“It is Ashes cricket. Probably went a little bit too far with the comments, but it’s cricket and now it’s in the back of their mind.”

England’s coach criticised Warner for his remarks.

“We’ve been on tour for a month and he has had his ups and downs and it is not directly related,” Flower said of Warner’s insults.

“I will also say that players commenting about fellow professionals in the media is disrespectful and on this occasion he (Warner) has got that horribly wrong.”

Angus Porter, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association, which represents players in England and Wales, said Trott’s exit was probably not linked to the criticism from Warner.

“This is a serious illness relating probably to chemical imbalances in the brain,” he said.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann had backed his players’ tough approach at Brisbane’s Gabba ground.

“I like them playing hard cricket,” he said.

“I like our boys being aggressive without crossing the line.”