TRESCOTHICK: I’LL LIMIT MY TOUR TIME
MARCUS TRESCOTHICK negotiated limits on his time away from home as part of the deal that led to him being appointed England’s elite batting coach. Trescothick, 45, ended his international playing career prematurely due to a debilitating mental illness that deepened when he was playing overseas. But he remained the ECB’s first choice for the role — as reported by Sportsmail last November — and was confirmed in it on the basis that touring would be limited, two years after the previous incumbent, Mark Ramprakash, was sacked. He has been abroad with England on a consultancy basis in recent times and only misses the white-ball leg of the current tour of India following the death of his father-in-law. ‘It’s an ongoing process for me. I’ve gradually built it from a couple of days in Spain, then Spain for a week, then two weeks in Abu Dhabi. I’ve been gradually cutting my teeth on it just to get more confident,’ Trescothick revealed. ‘Every trip that I do, the more I realise how much I enjoyed the touring life. But that’s not to say I’m ready to jump back in and do three months away. That’s not what I’m ready for yet. ‘And we’ve discussed that. I said to them three, four, five weeks, I’m open to all that. ‘It’s gradually getting easier for me, my kids are growing up, less dependent on me and I’ve grown more and more confident to deal with it.’ Trescothick ended a 30-year association with Somerset, where he was assistant coach, to join England’s backroom team. As well as working with the full international side, he will be involved with the development of England Lions and Under 19 players. In addition to the 76-cap Test batsman, the ECB announced the permanent additions of Jon Lewis and Jeetan Patel as pace bowling and spin bowling coaches respectively. Meanwhile, Richard Dawson has left Gloucestershire to take up the new ECB position of elite pathway coach in a restructure triggered by Lewis’s promotion from head coach of the England Young Lions.