England batsman Jonathan Trott has insisted that Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was not the one to blame for his early exit from their Ashes tour as he criticised former English skipper Michael Vaughan's reaction to his health problems.
When Trott quit what turned out to be a 5-0 Ashes thrashing by Australia after twice falling cheaply to Johnson in the first Test in Brisbane, England officials said that he was suffering from a stress-related illness.
However, the South Africa-born batsman later revealed that he had been burnt out but was not depressed, which prompted Vaughan to say that he felt conned because he thought Trott's comments were a sign he'd been struggling for cricketing reasons, not mental health ones, Sport24 reported.
However, Trott said that a lot of people said it was Johnson but it really wasn't, adding that it was what was going on with him; self-inflicted really. He said that give the Australian paceman credit as he bowled really well in the one-day series and Tests,
Trott said that he has actually had a few centuries against Johnson, so he wouldn't say it's a technique issue. But, he added that without digging deeper and finding out what's going on, that's what people focus on.
Trott, who in 49 Tests has scored 3 763 runs including nine hundreds at an average of 46.75, has not played for England since the Brisbane match although he subsequently returned to county duty with Warwickshire, although a recurrence of the illness in April led to another break from cricket.
But since coming back again with the Midlands county in June, Trott has been in fine form for Warwickshire with four centuries, two each in the County Championship and the 50-over One Day Cup, the report added.