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Marcus Trescothick has withdrawn from the Ashes battle following recurrence of his mystery illness.The left hander’s Ashes tour has lasted for just nine days and had scores of 2 and 8 respectively against Prime Minister’s XI and New South Wales. He will not play any part in the Ashes Series according to the ECB.
The Somerset Opener had suffered from this same stress-related illness during the India tour where he had flown back home without playing a Test Match. He had returned back in the England team in the Sri Lanka Test Series where he had got a century to start with and in his next 11 innings which were against Sri Lanka followed by Pakistan had produced just a fifty. Trescothick was dropped from the Champions Trophy Squad and had also sat out in the last two NatWest One Dayers against Pakistan at home.
The 30-year-old Trescothick had a decent outing in the last Ashes where he had scored three fifties. He has played 76 Tests and is close of getting to the 6000 Test runs which have come at a solid average of 43.79. He has 14 100s and 29 50s to his credit but it looks unlikely to add any further milestones to his career which now looks to have come to an end unfortunately. A terrific stroke player he is at the top that he also has 12 ODI hundreds, which is a proud feat considering that England have played poor One Day Cricket in the recent past. Trescothick’s exit in India had given way to Alastair Cook of Essex who made his debut in the 1st Test against India in Nagpur where he had scored a hundred! So one will have to see whether the England Selectors will give a recall to Trescothick or not in the future once he gets mentally fit or look beyond him!
Ed Joyce is the replacement
Middlesex’s left handed middle order batsman, Ed Joyce has been named as the replacement for Trescothick. Joyce who was born in Ireland had made his One Day International Debut against his own country, Ireland! He had gone onto play the last two NatWest One Dayers against Pakistan in place of Trescothick. Joyce who had opened the innings in both the matches didn’t look that impressive but his first class stats sound promising and he is expected to deliver the goods at the highest level.