LONDON // Jonathan Trott is set to make his comeback for county side Warwickshire in April and wants to play international cricket again, former England batsman Dennis Amiss said on Wednesday.
Trott, 32, left England's Ashes tour of Australia with a stress-related illness after twice falling cheaply to fast bowler Mitchell Johnson in a crushing 381-run loss in the first Test at Brisbane.
That prompted concerns the South Africa-born batsman, who made a hundred on Test debut against Australia at The Oval in 2009, might struggle to return to the international arena.
But Amiss, chairman of Trott’s benefit committee, said he expected the top-order batsman to face Gloucestershire in a pre-season friendly in April.
“He’s still very hungry,” Amiss told the BBC. “He wants to continue succeeding both for Warwickshire and for England.”
Trott, who has scored 3,763 runs, including nine hundreds, in 49 Tests for England at an average of 46.95, has been granted time for a family holiday while Warwickshire are on their pre-season tour in Barbados.
But he will join up with the squad on their return and is in line to play against Gloucestershire at Warwickshire’s Edgbaston headquarters in Birmingham, central England, on April 1-2.
He will also be considered for the first-class match against Oxford University from April 7 and the County Championship opener against Sussex from April 13.
Amiss, who was Warwickshire chief executive when Trott arrived at Edgbaston from South Africa in 2002, said he had been encouraged by the player’s state of mind during their recent meetings.
“He’s doing very well,” Amiss said. “He’s had a great rest, which is very important, and he is raring to go again.
“Cricket is his passion and I believe he has qualities, as we’ve seen, to be able to score a mass of runs for Warwickshire to get himself back into the England side and regain his position.”
Trott has not spoken publically since he left Australia on November 25, saying: “I don’t think it is right that I’m playing, knowing that I’m not 100 per cent.”
Amiss added: “I think it was essentially burnout. The England and Wales Cricket Board has helped him while he has been back. Everybody has given him a lot of help. Rest has been the most important thing.”
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Welcome back. What was it like to return to RAK and to play for fans out here again?
It’s an amazing feeling to be back in the passionate UAE again. Seeing the fans having a great time that is what it’s all about.
You're currently touring the globe as part of your Legends of the Feels Tour. How important is it to you to include the Middle East in the schedule?
The tour is doing really well and is extensive and intensive at the same time travelling all over the globe. My Middle Eastern fans are very dear to me, it’s good to be back.
You mix tracks that people know and love, but you also have a visually impressive set too (graphics etc). Is that the secret recipe to Dash Berlin's live gigs?
People enjoying the combination of the music and visuals are the key factor in the success of the Legends Of The Feel tour 2018.
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