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Journalism of Courage
JM Coetzee,the distinguished South African writer who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2003 and the Booker Prize on two occasions,once said: We are not cruel by nature. In order to be cruel,we have to close our heart to the suffering of the other. If read in isolation,it could also be an apt description of an innings played by a man from Coetzees birthplace of Cape Town.
As a batsman,Jonathan Trott justifies the first part of the statement. He is far from cruel with his strokes,preferring to while away his time in the middle until the opportunity to execute a classical drive arrives. He is just the sort of batsman that the opposition secretly admires. But there was no such admiration at the PCA Stadium on Thursday,considering the Indians had to live right through his glorious innings knowing that they should have ended it prematurely.
Having run to the other side of the pitch after poking the ball to the short square-leg region,Kevin Pietersen watched in shock as Trott stood rooted to crease at the non-strikers end. As MS Dhoni charged the ball down,Trott batting on 32 in the 21st over cantered towards the other end,anticipating a run out by more than 20 yards,but Dhonis gloved throw went wide. It was then that Trott perhaps paid heed to the second part of Coetzees statement. He shut his heart and watched 11 Indians and 20,000-odd spectators suffer at his cruel indifference.
Playing perhaps his most challenging one-day innings in his short career,Trotts unbeaten 98 led England to their highest score of the series so far,although it didnt prove to be enough in the end. He stood like a lighthouse,guiding the English vessel out of the cricketing equivalent of horse latitudes: early trouble.
At 53/2 in the 13th over and with both the openers back in the hut,Trott took it upon himself to save England,who were staring down the barrel again in the series.
He resurrected the innings with a 101-run stand with Pietersen (64) during the middle overs,before launching into an uncharacteristic attack of the no-holds-barred kind during the death overs with Samit Patel (unbeaten 70).
This after a nervous start to the innings where Trott took 25 balls to enter double digits. But as KP joined him in the middle,he found his touch and also a good measure of the nippy wicket. Of the last ball of the 14th over,Trott pulled Umesh Yadavs 144.1 kmph delivery for a flat boundary past square-leg and the floodgates opened.
Going to work on Kohlis scattergun dibbly dobblies,Trott flat-batted two powerful boundaries in the 15th over to take his years tally past 1200 runs. As Pietersen soon moved into the drivers seat,Trott began his mammoth collection of singles (56 in all) and wouldnt hit another one till the halfway stage of the match.
Narrow miss
At the end of Englands innings,the only thing that didnt go according to script for Trott was getting stranded two runs short of a fourth ODI ton. Although he looked a shade disappointed with himself while walking off the field,he will soon be reminded of the bouquet of smaller landmarks that the years leading run-scorer in the format crossed during his 116-ball knock.
With 1271 runs in 2011,Trott has now scored more runs in a calendar year than Mohammad Azharuddin,Adam Gilchrist,Mahela Jayawardene,Chris Gayle,Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes ever have in 50-over cricket. Not bad for a man who was seen as a Test specialist,for playing the game in a gentlemanly,non-cruel fashion.
