Edward Craig: How Tresco’s story touched India
October 16th, 2009 by Edward Craig in Champions League, England in India, IPL, Twenty20, ed craigMarcus Trescothick’s sad departure to England has created a mixture of confusion and bewilderment from many Indians – and his county have exacerbated a desperate situation.
The news broke late last night here. It is not a massive story for the locals but is of interest – they would like to know why one of the English teams’ most high profile players has headed home. And as the rumours leaked out, Somerset’s communication broke down.
At a time when Trescothick had already left the country, Somerset had said all their squad were fit and healthy. Indian journalists were told one thing while the Somerset website said another. Suddenly it was difficult to get through to the press officer. In fact, Sundar Raman the CEO of the IPL and the Champions League tweeted at 12.26pm yesterday: “Trescothick heads back home!”
Nothing was clear – there was withholding and leaking, bluffing and some outright lying. Yet this story does not merit such media playing.
Tresco has had to go home before. It is as significant as ‘Justin Langer busts ankle and heads to Australia’. Important but not massive. The lack of clear information created intrigue and rumours.
The main problem with this situation is that the illness is difficult to understand. It is hard enough for English fans who know the story – and have read the book – to comprehend.
For many Indians, this is a completely new story and trying to get a handle on the reasons behind it is tough. I guess only people who suffer similarly can properly know what he goes through. Yet some Indians were asking me to explain. I can’t – I just have to accept and sympathise.
Somerset’s failure to communicate clearly and a fundamental lack of understanding from observers led to insensitive journalism and opinions (there was a ‘Strescothick’ headline in one newspaper here) – which doesn’t exactly endear county cricket to Indians and, most importantly, can’t help Tresco much.
Edward Craig is deputy editor of The Wisden Cricketer
Posted in Champions League, England in India, IPL, Twenty20, ed craig |
October 16th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
The moment a Harmison or a Tresco step out of their drawing room, every sport editor worth his salt, sugar and jaggery should keep one chap embedded with them. It’s just a matter of when and not if.
October 17th, 2009 at 12:37 am
When all this first occured - I think it was 2006 - I don’t mind admitting I was unsympathetic and thought it was just homesickness from a bloke who wanted to go home and see his mrs and kids, I thought a lot of us would give our right arms to have the chance to tour with England and that he was out of order.
Since listening to Trescothick giving TV and Radio interviews over last 12-18 months I came to realise that it is a major problem to him and he must have suffered a lot, his comments led me to think that it would appear to be a problem that probably affects a lot more people than we would imagine.
After Australia and the incident at the airport waiting to go to Dubai earlier this year there was always a good chance this would happen again. The fact that all efforts to try and nurse him through the trip have failed must show everyone and himself that this dosen’t look like it is going to go away any time soon.
It must set him back as well and knock his confidence, for the sake of himself and whats left of his career it must be time for him to just opt out of all travel, whether it be pre-season tours or whatever, he should just stay at home and make sure he is ok to play cricket for Somerset and try and enjoy the rest of his career.
October 17th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Somerset admitted yesterday that they half-expected it and that they will never ask him to tour again. They were almost apologetic. It is a very sad situation.