We cannot blame the Motera wicket solely for failure in Pink Ball Test, says England batting coach

England batting coach Jonathan Trott not in favour of blaming the Motera wicket solely for loss in Pink Ball Test.

Xtra Time Web Desk: England’s batting coach Jonathan Trott on Saturday said the wicket at Motera for the Pink Ball Test cannot be held responsible solely for their failure. According to Trott, it would be a “disservice” to blame the 22 yards at Motera. The pitch of the Pink-ball Test received a lot of flak from some quarters after England were bundled out for 112 and 81 in the two innings during their 10-wicket loss on Thursday.

“I thought it was tricky at times for everybody to play on, obviously pretty dry and that’s what we have seen here in India. We had first use for it, so we would have like to score more runs and put India under bit of pressure,” he said in a virtual press conference.

“We saw when we bowled well, we could restrict them to.”

Trott didn’t want to get into the blame game and said things could have been different if England would have batted well in the first innings.

“I always like to see what we could have done better instead of blaming things.

“If we could have got 200 or 250 in the first innings, it would have been a different game. The mentality (mental approach) of batting in the second innings would have been very different.

“So looking and blaming the pitch, I think, would be doing ourselves a disservice. Yes, the ball did spin and there were balls which skid on but it was same for both sides.”

Asked does it do Test cricket disservice to see a Test match end inside two days, Trott said, “Whether it finishes in two days or whatever, you always want to see good cricket and good battle between bat and ball and clearly bowlers had the upper hand in this Test series so let’s see what happens in last Test.

“I wouldn’t say it does disservice I would say different conditions, different countries all around the world, that’s what makes Test cricket so unique and that’s the way the game is played.”

Asked about the mood in the camp, he said: “It is disappointing with how the two Tests have gone for us. But you don’t become a bad side after just two Test matches, yes it hurts and we want to pull up our socks and do well for England. It makes you doubly determined to do well.” At times desperation proves to be counter-productive, Trott said.