LONDON // The sight of the normally stubborn Jonathan Trott swishing and missing with alarming regularity during his two brief innings in Australia was a telltale sign that all was not right.
England's No 3, so often the rock of his side's batting order since making his Test debut in 2009, managed just 19 panicky runs in the 381-run humiliation that ended on Sunday and was clearly unsettled by the fired-up Australian pace attack.
Shaken by the ferocity of Mitchell Johnson’s short-pitched bowling in particular, Trott crumbled, and to rub salt into the wound, his second-innings dismissal was labelled as “weak” by Australian opener David Warner.
Trott's performance was also criticised by former England players now working as television or radio pundits, but after the announcement that he was leaving the Ashes squad on Monday with a stress-related illness, there was widespread support for his predicament.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan went on Twitter to apologise.
“I do feel guilty for criticising Trott this week,” he said. “I wasn’t to know what he was going through and I can only comment on what I see...”
Speaking to the BBC, Vaughan added: “I’m desperately sorry for him, he’s made exactly the right decision.
“I think the hardest thing is that it’s not visual. I don’t know how long it’s been going on, but I criticised him in the second innings and you look back and I wish I hadn’t now, I wish I’d have known he was going through troubles.
“An Ashes series away from home is so pressurised. It’s going to be a really tough ask to come back from this.
“It’s certainly around the cricketing fraternity, we’ve seen a number of players come out and talk about it. It’s a serious issue because it’s not visual and they hide it away.”
Long stretches away from home combined with intense media scrutiny have taken a toll on international cricketers in the past, with former England batsman Marcus Trescothick leaving the 2006/07 series in Australia because of depression.
“It’s debilitating, it grinds you down and just gets to you non-stop. There’s no hiding place from it, it’s 24/7.
“He’s got to just take a bit of time to get back on track and get back happy again,” Trescothick told the BBC.
Matthew Hoggard, who was part of Vaughan’s 2005 Ashes-winning side, said many cricketers suffered from stress.
“If you know that people are suffering and you’re not going to take them then you could be losing half your team because I don’t think it’s just an isolated incident,” he told the BBC.
Another former England captain Nasser Hussain said the news came as a shock.
“It’s amazing news, no one heard any whispers about it over here,” said Hussain, part of the Sky Sports commentary team. “You just don’t know what is going on in someone’s mind and it’s obviously a highly stressful situation and it just tipped him over the edge.
“He was the glue that held England’s batting line together.”
Sympathy also came from Trott’s England team mates with bowler Stuart Broad saying on Twitter: “Love Trotty. Absolute champion of a man. He knows he has the support of all the people around him. Puts cricket in perspective.”
sports@thenational.ae
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Name: HyperSpace
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Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
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Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
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Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
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Co-founders of the company: Vilhelm Hedberg and Ravi Bhusari
Launch year: In 2016 ekar launched and signed an agreement with Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. In January 2017 ekar launched in Dubai in a partnership with the RTA.
Number of employees: Over 50
Financing stage: Series B currently being finalised
Investors: Series A - Audacia Capital
Sector of operation: Transport
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Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
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Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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COMPANY PROFILE
● Company: Bidzi
● Started: 2024
● Founders: Akshay Dosaj and Asif Rashid
● Based: Dubai, UAE
● Industry: M&A
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Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH
Directed by: Shaka King
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Jesse Plemons
Four stars
