Confirmation of the end was sad but inevitable. Marcus Trescothick has seemed a tormented man for two years, weighed down by problems far superseding anything that occurs on the cricket pitch. So it was somehow fitting that he did not go out in a blaze of glory, but a low-key announcement that he was officially retiring from international cricket. For he has been a man not entirely comfortable with the intense media glare international cricketers are now subjected to, preferring to quietly go about scoring runs than chase headlines or the England captaincy.
For six years from his debut in 2000, Trescothick was a fearsome sight at the top of England's order. Commentators frequently bemoaned his lack of foot movement, but he developed a highly effective 'stand and deliver' method that relied on hand-eye coordination, eyesight and, above all, an uncluttered mindset that focussed on hitting the ball cleanly. If that sounds a little demeaning, it should not, for it takes a fiercely single-minded individual to have trust in his method and succeed with a technique that many believed was fundamentally flawed, and could not succeed over an extended period against the best.
Trescothick was very much Duncan Fletcher's pick, selected not for any sterling county deeds but largely for an innings of 167 against Glamorgan, who Fletcher was coaching at the time, in 1999. The knock displayed his uninhibited talent, his ability to play his natural game even as others around him were losing confidence in theirs, and a power that could intimidate the world's finest bowlers. He was a tremendous team-man, too, whose selflessness was exemplified when he compromised his batting in accepting the challenge of keeping wicket for England in the one-day series in New Zealand in 2002.
Trescothick was at his best when he stopped worrying about technique, and allowed his rich natural instincts and belligerence to come to the fore. These were the hallmarks of some of his most memorable Test knocks, including his momentum-seizing 90 in the 2005 Ashes and an epic 219 to help England square the series with South Africa two years previously. The latter was particularly noteworthy, as it came at a time when his technique was under exceptional scrutiny. But he succeeded in freeing his mind from technical jargon, displaying admirable resilience aided by the less glamorous attributes of selectivity, patience and sheer determination in his nine and-a-half hour masterpiece.
The finest and most valuable of his innings was indisputably at Johannesburg in 2005. A pulsating match- and series - was decided by Matthew Hoggard's 12-wicket haul, but it was Trescothick's brilliance under pressure that set-up victory. He scored 180 out of England's second innings 332, launching a fearless and selfless assault on the South African attack while team-mates floundered. This was vintage Trescothick: driving powerfully; pulling audaciously; treating the spin of Nicky Boje with disdain; and steadfastly refusing to get bogged down by the pressure team-mates were succumbing to.
It is for knocks like these that Trescothick deserves to be remembered. While his technique was to some extent found out by Gillespie and McGrath, he had the faith to stick with it and play a vital part in the 2005 Ashes - failing, sadly, to score his first Test hundred against Australia. While he can be pigeon-holed as a thrasher of trundling medium-pace, the truth is Trescothick was a wonderfully adaptable player, who excelled himself against South Africa but, utilising his long reach and slog-sweep, was also, just behind Graham Thorpe, the most successful Englishman of his time in the sub-Continent. His vigil of 193 in Pakistan in late 2005, when he had reluctantly accepted the captaincy, seemed to signal a time of renewed productivity, when he would consistently combine his patience with his natural free-hitting skill. But it was not quite to be.
Trescothick was the consummate team-man, and deserves to feel no guilt for walking out of the Ashes tour. With 26 international hundreds, he was a hugely commendable international batsman, and one of the finest openers England have ever possessed in ODIs, the man behind countless daring assaults during the overs of fielding restrictions.
At 32, he could have still had his best international years in front of him. It is not to be but everyone will hope Trescothick will replicate his form of last season for several more years with Somerset, the county of his birth and, in these days when international superstars seldom turn out for their counties, almost nostalgically close to his heart. If he does, he may yet achieve something just as satisfying as the 2005 Ashes win: a first county championship for Somerset.
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