Trott urges batsmen not to seek desperate measures

JONATHAN Trott has cautioned England’s batsmen not to get “too desperate” as they look to find a way to combat India’s rampant spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.

The duo have taken a combined 42 wickets in the series so far, at a wince-inducing average of 13.02, and their dominance has seen the tourists dismissed for scores of 134, 164, 112 and 81 on turning tracks since winning the opening match.

England face the unenviable challenge of returning to the site of their ignominious two-day defeat in the day/night third Test, and part of Warwickshire legend Trott’s job as batting consultant and he advises a measured approach, rather than an attempt to produce a drastic change in fortunes.

“Of course it’s disappointing the way the last two Tests have gone, but you don’t become a bad side over two Tests,” he said.

“Yes it hurts, but we want to pull our socks up and do much better for England, it makes you doubly determined for the next one.

“It’s about being clear in how they want to go about it and not being too desperate. Sometimes you can want it too much. So getting the right kind of mentality is important.”

While senior batsman Joe Root and Ben Stokes will do plenty of heavy lifting, their less-experienced team-mates also need to learn.

“Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley and Dom

Sibley have played 44 Tests all together and a combined 11 in Asia, so it is tricky for those younger guys,” said Trott. “You’d like to be able to learn and still win Test matches but unfortunately that wasn’t the case in the previous two.

“Hopefully the guys are learning and we’ve got a few days of practice.

“All out batters have a pretty good method so it’s about going out there and not perhaps trying to change too much mid-series.”