… former captain lashes out at Jonathan Trott’s Ashes exit

JONATHAN Trott ‘conned’ the cricketing world by using mental illness as an excuse for his early departure from the recent Commonwealth Bank Ashes Series, according to former England captain Michael Vaughan.In an interview with Sky Sports in the UK last week, Trott admitted he felt ‘guilty’ watching his team-mates struggle in the 5-0 whitewash at the hands of the Australians.
Vaughan, however, used his column in The Telegraph to lash out at the batsman, stating that his peers will now look at him in a different light.
“We were allowed to believe he was struggling with a serious mental health issue and treated him with sensitivity and sympathy,” Vaughan wrote.
“He was obviously not in a great place but he was struggling for cricketing reasons and not mental, and there is a massive difference.
“There is a danger we are starting to use stress-related illness and depression too quickly as tags for players under pressure.”
Vaughan, who captained his country in 51 Tests between 2003 and 2008, said Trott was using mental health as an excuse for a lack of form and technical shortcomings against Mitchell Johnson and his fellow Aussie quicks.
“When I hear players talking about burnout, I suspect it is an excuse. You never see players retiring from sport and talking about burnout when they are playing well,” he continued.
“It always seems to happen when you are struggling for form and not scoring runs. That is the stress of playing high-profile sport.”
Trott was then accused of disrespecting anyone who has suffered from mental illness by using terms such as “nutcase’ and “crazy” in his first TV interview since his sudden departure following the Gabba Test.
“We have seen other England cricketers suffer from depression and I do not think Trott realises just how important an issue it is,” said Vaughan.
Trott has signalled his intentions to return to the England team via his County side Warwickshire, but Vaughan suggested he was in no position to pick and choose his return date.
“Nobody has a given right to get back in the side. It is the England cricket team and he walked out.”