Trott reveals ‘admiration’ for nemesis Johnson

LONDON: Jonathan Trott said on Friday he felt no resentment and revealed he even admired Mitchell Johnson, the Australian fast bowler and nemesis who played a defining role in derailing his England career.

Meanwhile former England captain Michael Vaughan called in lawyers over comments about him in Trott’s autobiography “Unguarded”, saying he would not accept “any attack on my honesty and integrity”.

Trott returned home early from the 2013/14 Ashes series in Australia, which England eventually lost 5-0, with a stress-related illness after the first Test in Brisbane.

That match saw Trott struggle badly against Johnson, with the South Africa-born batsman saying the fiery left-arm quick had improved his game just at the moment he himself was on the wane.

“I admire Mitchell Johnson,” Trott wrote in an extract from Unguarded published in The Times on Friday.

“He had been through some tough times, worked hard and deserved his success... One day I’d like to shake him by the hand and say, ‘Well bowled’.

“I don’t bear him an ounce of resentment. Test cricket is meant to be hard and he was admirably ruthless.”

Trott added that he had been “scared of failing”.

Trott, who recently helped Warwickshire win English cricket’s One-Day Cup, retired from Test duty in 2015 with 3,835 runs in 52 matches, including nine hundreds, at an average of 44.08.

Vaughan, England’s 2005 Ashes-winning captain, took exception to a damning extract of the book published Thursday when Trott suggested he had an “agenda”.

Vaughan, writing in the Daily Telegraph at the time, had said he felt “conned” by Trott’s explanation to Sky Sports of why he returned home early.

Trott, evidently irritated, addressed that in the book: “He effectively suggested that I was looking for an excuse to dodge Mitchell Johnson. It was the Vaughan criticism that was the most damaging. I began to question if he had an agenda as well.”

Vaughan was a client and has done work for the ISM agency, which looks after several England players that might have benefitted from Trott being off the England scene, the batsman alleged.

However, Vaughan — who said his lawyers had written to The Times regarding Thursday’s extract — responded on Twitter by saying: “Criticism of my opinions, my actions and even personal criticisms are all fair game, but I will not accept any attack on my honesty or my integrity. “Nor will I accept accusations that I set out to positively damage the career of any professional cricketer.”