Morgan or Trott? We can’t pick the lot

England have just won a One-Day International series, which by all accounts is becoming a bit of a habit. With the exclusion of the 3-2 loss in India, England have been victorious in four of their last five ODI series’, with a 2-2 draw at home to South Africa spoiling a full house. Yet, despite our success, it’s time for a shake-up according to some sections of the media.

Whilst it may sound slightly unusual given our form over the last 12 months or so, there’s certainly an argument to reconsider the batting line-up. Jonathan Trott’s place, for one, has been the subject of much debate.

Whether he scores runs or not, Trott seems to be blamed for all kinds of things: scoring too slowly, failing to take advantage of the powerplays, the Iraq War, the El Nino phenomenon, you name it, Trott’s been blamed for it.

The pace of his innings’ has come under scrutiny throughout his career, and after his all too patient 68 in the first ODI in New Zealand, there were more calls for Trotty to be shown the door.

Others have already been jettisoned. Jade Dernbach, present for the three T20’s and a valuable member of that series winning side, wasn’t deemed good enough to retain his place for the 50-over games; he found himself on an early flight home with the T20 specialists.

Perhaps surprisingly, however, Trott has kept his pace – so he’s bearing the brunt of yet more conjecture in media quarters. However, some journalists see Eoin Morgan as the more likely victim when Kevin Pietersen returns to the team.

Scyld Berry, writing in his Telegraph column, suggested that it will be Morgan, and not Trott, who loses his place in the summer when coloured clothing and white balls return to our screen. Quite why, I do not know, and cannot configure.

On the face of it, Trott’s numbers stack up better than the Irishman. But delve deeper down and you’ll find the real story.

All of Morgan’s three ODI hundreds have all come in a winning cause and have all been scored at better than a run-a-ball. Trott has three ODI tons as well, with two scored in an England win.

However, only three of Trott’s 23 ODI half-centuries have merited a strike-rate of over 100. For a number 3 batsman, that is rather unusual and slightly disappointing.

Interestingly, none of his hundreds have been scored in a run chase, whereas two of Morgan’s were match winning knocks chasing a score. Moreover, there’s an argument for saying Trott has cost England more matches than he’s won. So who gets dropped?

With Alastair Cook and Ian Bell operating at the top of the order, not to mention Trott, the more hitters in the middle-order the better. In Kevin Pietersen’s absence, Joe Root has proven himself a more than capable number 4. But nobody in the current side rivals Eoin Morgan’s ability to strike the ball out of the ground in a pressure situation. Jos Buttler has the ability, as he demonstrated in the T20 series, but has yet to prove himself completely at international level. The idea of dropping Morgan therefore seems ridiculous.

On paper, Trott looks very impressive. An average of fifty is fantastic, don’t get me wrong. But he is an accumulator by trade. It’s an average you expect from a player of his type and calibre. But a strike rate of 75 and just three hundreds to go with that isn’t good enough.

If I was Ashely Giles, I’d move Kevin Pietersen up to 3, Morgan up to 4 and the rest sorts itself out. Remember, we’ve got an abundance of stroke-makers in the form of Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Root and Samit Patel. These are the players that win ODIs in the modern game – not players that tick, or should that be Trott, along.

What do you think?

George Curits