Jonathan Trott speaks about this winter's England Lions tour to South Africa and his form for Warwickshire
Jonathan Trott is confident he will enjoy his return to an England shirt when he travels with the Lions to South Africa this winter.
Trott believes he will be joining up with one of the strongest Lions squads ever assembled in what will be his first tour since leaving last winter’s Ashes trip early.
The 33-year-old holds no reservations about returning to the road and, after a successful back-end to the summer at Warwickshire prompted his Lions call-up, is now looking forward only to getting back to work alongside some new team-mates.
“That’s always been the case for myself,” he told ecb.co.uk.
“I don’t want to look any further than the end of January when this tour ends and we’ll see how we go from there.
Delighted to be included in Lions trip and looking forward to being part of the England set up again.
— Jonathan Trott (@Trotty) October 28, 2014
"I’m really pleased with the way the cricket has gone with Warwickshire in those last couple of months.”
Asked if he felt he had a point to prove, he added: “I’m not so sure about proving and showing – I think it’s more about getting back into the mix of things and travelling again and playing in new teams.
“You get used to going back and playing with Warwickshire and that’s half the battle, it’s how you fit in and gel and how you adapt to being on the road all the time and playing.
“That’s the main things and that’s really exciting for me to get back into that. I’ve always enjoyed touring so I don’t see why it would be any different now.”
Trott is excited at the prospect of playing in a “very strong” Lions outfit and suspects there may be some friendly rivalry amongst the tourists after half of the 14-man squad were selected from LV= County Championship winners Yorkshire.
“I look at that squad and it’s a really, really strong squad,” he said.
“I don’t think there has been a stronger Lions squad. To be able to go out there and mix it with the other guys, a very strong Yorkshire contingent obviously after the success they’ve had.
“There are a few Warwickshire lads so we’ll definitely try and out-do them a bit.”
Trott will fly out with the squad on New Year’s Day for the first-class leg of the tour, which will feature two four-day games against South Africa A, following a warm-up match in Johannesburg.
“This Lions tour is exciting, it’s another opportunity I suppose,” Trott said.
“I think it is important. I see it as a good chance to go out there, work on my game and hopefully impress the selectors.”