George Henry Stevens Trott (5 August 1866 – 9 November 1917) was an Australian
leg-spin bowling was often able to deceive batsmen through subtle variations of pace and flight
, but allowed opposition batsmen to score quickly.
Trott made his Test debut in 1888, on a tour of England, and would tour England another three times (in 1890, 1893 and 1896), scoring more than 1000 runs on each occasion. For the 1896 tour, Trott was elected captain by his teammates. Despite England winning the series two Tests to one and retaining The Ashes, Trott's ability as a captain was highly regarded. In the return series in Australia during the 1897–98 season, Trott's team was more successful, winning the five-Test series 4–1 and regaining The Ashes. At a time when the federation of the Australian colonies was under discussion, the victory saw Trott praised as a "national institution" and his team as having "done more for the federation of Australian hearts than all the big delegates put together".[1]
A severe mental illness abruptly ended Trott's Test career at the age of 31. After a series of seizures in 1898, he suffered from insomnia, apathy, and memory loss. Failing to recover lucidity, he was committed to a psychiatric hospital for over a year. After he was discharged, he eventually returned to cricket, and continued to play for his state, Victoria, and club, South Melbourne, into his forties. After his retirement, Trott served as a selector for Victoria for a number of years. Outside of cricket, he worked as a postman and mail sorter. He died of cancer in 1917, aged 51.
Early life and career
Born in Collingwood, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Trott was the third of eight children born to accountant Adolphus Trott and his wife Mary-Ann (née Stephens).[2][3] His younger brother Albert also became a Test cricketer. The siblings played their junior cricket with the local Capulet club.[2] Harry transferred to South Melbourne, which played in Melbourne's pennant competition, after scouts for the club noticed him playing park cricket.[1] In his first season, the 18-year-old Trott recorded the best batting average and bowling average for the team.[3]
Trott made his first-class debut for Victoria against an "Australian XI" on New Year's Day 1886, scoring four and 18 not out.[4] Two months later, he played his first inter-colonial match, against South Australia at the Adelaide Oval. Batting, he scored 54 runs; his innings included a memorable hit over the leg sideboundary from the bowling of leading Test all-rounder George Giffen, and he captured seven wickets for the match with his bowling.[1][5] In 1886–87, Trott hit a double century for South Melbourne in a match against St Kilda and appeared for Victoria against Alfred Shaw's touring English team, claiming four wickets for 125 runs (4/125).[6][7] During the next summer, he played for a non-representative "Australian XI" against Arthur Shrewsbury's XI and George Vernon's XI, two English teams touring Australia simultaneously.[8][9] His chances for inclusion in the Australian squad for the forthcoming tour of England were enhanced when a number of leading players made themselves unavailable.[10] However, Trott's batting credentials were modest: he had scored only one half-century in 29 first-class innings.[11] At this point, Trott had enjoyed more success with his bowling. Prior to the Australian team departing for England, a change to the leg before wicket (LBW) law that would aid bowlers of Trott's style seemed imminent. The former Australian player Tom Horan wrote: "There is no bowler in England who has such a fast leg-break, and on a fine, firm pitch many a batsman has saved his wicket by his legs or body in opposing Trott's deliveries."[12]
Test cricket
First tours of England
Included in the
point".[15]Wisden was less complimentary about his bowling: "We have no great opinion of Trott's leg break bowling, and think it probably too slow to be effectual against good batsmen." Trott's opportunities were limited as his teammates Charles Turner and John Ferris, "monopolised the bowling".[15]
On his return to Australia, Trott's batting continued to improve. He scored 172 runs for an Australian XI against
Sydney Morning Herald wrote that the innings "... stamped him as a batsman of the highest class".[6] In first-class matches, Trott posted 507 runs (at 39.00 average) and claimed 25 wickets (at 17.44 average) for the summer, and hit a double century in a club match against Melbourne
. Another good all-round season in 1889–90 ensured his place for the next trip to England.
The 1890 Australian team touring England was relatively inexperienced.
Cambridge University Past and Present,[19][20] and captured 20 wickets.[21] Disappointed by Trott's performances, Wisden felt that he "... barely maintained the reputation he had so honestly gained during the tour of 1888 ... it cannot be said that he came up to expectations".[22]
Australian revival and Wisden Cricketer of the Year
In 1891–92,
team (captained by W. G. Grace) toured Australia, the first English side to do so in four years. The presence of Grace contributed to a revival of interest in the game that had waned due to a surfeit of international tours and indifferent performances by the Australian team.[23] The Australians won the series 2–1 to regain The Ashes.[24] In the first Test at Melbourne, Trott scored three and 23, but had greater impact with the ball. Requiring 213 runs for victory, England's score reached 60 before their first two batsmen were dismissed. The Australian captain Jack Blackham then gambled by calling on Trott's often inaccurate bowling. Trott took two quick wickets and the English innings never recovered.[25] In returning 3/52 for the innings, Wisden noted that Trott "bowled admirably".[26] The remaining two Tests were less productive for Trott: he finished with 48 runs (at an average of 8.00) and 6 wickets (at an average of 35.00) for the series.[27][28]
A reorganisation of Australian cricket took place in the wake of the tour. The first national body to control the game, the Australasian Cricket Council (ACC), was formed to co-ordinate the Australian Test team. Previously, private entrepreneurs and the players themselves organised international cricket. Lord Sheffield donated money to the ACC, which was used to purchase a trophy for the champion domestic team. Trott appeared in Victoria's inaugural Sheffield Shield match, against New South Wales in December 1892. He scored 63 and 70 not out in a winning effort. The ACC appointed Trott as one of the six players to select the touring team for England.[29]
The
Wisden Cricketer of the Year.[37]Wisden noted that Trott "batted uncommonly well — much better than in 1890" but that when bowling he "did a good many brilliant things against the weaker teams, but he was nearly always expensive and very rarely successful when opposed to batsmen of high class".[30]
The Trott brothers
Andrew Stoddart led an English team to Australia in 1894–95 to defend The Ashes. A feature of the summer was the emergence of Albert Trott and the performance of the brothers in tandem. Playing for Victoria against the touring side, the Trotts claimed twelve wickets and held eight catches between them; Harry scored 63 in the second innings. During the second innings of the traditional Christmas fixture against New South Wales, Albert claimed five wickets, took three catches (two from Harry's bowling) and made a run out.[38] In between these two games, England won the first Test at Sydney—a remarkable turnaround after they had been forced to follow-on—by bowling the Australians out for 166 in the second innings.[39] The second Test at Melbourne saw another English victory; Trott played a rearguard innings of 95 in the second innings, to no avail.[40] Attempting to stay in the series, Australia dramatically revamped their team for the next Test at Adelaide. Albert Trott, making his Test debut, was one of four inclusions while Harry was elevated to open the batting. In a match played in intense heat throughout, Harry Trott made 48 on the opening day before he was run out. Albert was the dominant player of the match with innings of 38 not out and 72 not out (both scored from the number ten position), and a bowling return of 8/43 in England's second innings. Australia won the match by 382 runs.[41] In a Sheffield Shield match that followed, the Trotts extricated Victoria from a difficult situation. Chasing 155 to win, New South Wales fell for 99 with Albert taking four wickets and Harry five.[42] In the fourth Test at Sydney, Australia batted first and scored 284 runs (Albert Trott 85 not out) before England were bowled out for 65 and 72 on a wicket affected by heavy rain. Opening the bowling in the first innings, Harry Trott dismissed Archie MacLaren, Johnny Briggs and Stoddart.[43]
The fluctuating fortunes of the Test series created immense interest in the deciding Test at Melbourne. Spectators arrived from all over the country, with special trains laid on from Adelaide and Sydney.[44] Harry Trott's all-round contribution was a score of 42 in each innings, six wickets and two catches, but England won The Ashes by chasing a target of 297 runs in the second innings, which they reached with six wickets in hand.[45][46] Even in England, "the interest was greater than had ever been felt in matches played away from [England]".[47]
During the following summer, Trott again acted as a Test selector, along with the incumbent Test captain George Giffen and former captain Percy McDonnell.[48] When choosing the Australian team for the previous tour of England, Giffen used his influence to ensure the selection of his younger brother, Walter. The team chosen for the 1896 tour of England included a number of promising young players, including Joe Darling and Clem Hill, both of whom went on to captain Australia. Albert Trott was a controversial omission, in light of performances in the previous Ashes series, but he accompanied the team on their voyage and later settled in England. He had a successful career with Middlesex and appeared for England in two Test matches against South Africa. The cricket historian David Frith records that when the Trott brothers encountered each other on an English street, they merely exchanged acknowledging nods and kept walking.[49]
Captain of Australia
While the team was en route to England, the players elected Trott as
K. S. Ranjitsinhji making 154 not out. In a tense finish, Australia made the 125 runs needed for victory with three wickets in hand.[53] On a pitch affected by rain, England won the series and The Ashes, defeating Australia in the Third Test by 66 runs; Australia were bowled out for 44 runs in the second innings, at one stage having lost nine wickets for 25.[54]
Trott made 1297 runs and took 44 wickets in first-class matches on the tour.[55][56] Of his batting Wisden said "Trott's average is a little disappointing, but when a special effort was required he was not often at fault." and he bowled "on a good many occasions with fair results".[57] However it was as a captain that Trott earned most plaudits. Wisden rated Trott as "with the exception of [Billy Murdoch], ... incomparably the best captain the Australians had ever had in this country".[57]
He was by no means anxious for the post, but almost from the first match it was perfectly clear that he was in every way fitted for it. Of course the continuous success of his side made his duties far more pleasant and easy than those of some previous captains, but we feel quite sure that in a season of ill-fortune he would have earned just as great a reputation. Blessed with a temper that nothing could ruffle, he was always master both of himself and his team whatever the position of the game. More than that his judgement in changing the bowling was rarely or never at fault.
Although the team was considered successful, in spite of the failure to recapture The Ashes, the problems between the players and the administrators continued. Before the team departed Australia, the players arbitrarily replaced one of the selected players without recourse to the ACC.[48] After the final match in England, Trott and his players broke an agreement to return home in time for the 1896–97 Australian season. Instead, they organised matches in North America and New Zealand.