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Banging on Trescothick lined up as 'future England captain'
LONDON (AP) -- England captain Michael Atherton calls him "FEC" -- future England captain. Many remember him as a chubby boy and a sloppy professional, but one who hit the cricket ball very hard. He is test opener Marcus Edward Trescothick or "Banger" as he is fondly called by those close to the England left-hander. It has been a remarkable rise for this little known county professional. In less than 12 months since his senior England debut, Trescothick has been lined up as the man to lead English cricket into the next generation. He came narrowly close to fulfilling a dream this week -- captaining England in the second Ashes Test against Australia on Thursday. The only reason he was held back was because the selectors thought it was too much to expect from a 24-year-old playing only his 13th test. Atherton instead got the job. Trescothick stamped his credentials as a potential future leader with an excellent cricket brain and maturity. As a member of the tour committee in his first senior tour to Pakistan and then Sri Lanka during the winter, he was very impressive. It was in Pakistan that the highly respected Atherton called Trescothick a "FEC" for the first time. Somerset's Australian captain Jamie Cox believes the selectors have gone back in time by not picking Trescothick to stand in for the injured Nasser Hussain. "He's ready," Cox said of his Somerset vice-captain. "Our guys deeply respect him. He obviously has the respect of the England guys because he stepped into that dressing room and made runs. "It would have been such a positive mood. I'd be very surprised if it hurt him emotionally. "Why go back, when you've got a bloke who's red, white and blue to the bone? Any English defeat really kills him, just not only cricket. It (captaincy) would mean the world to him." It had obviously hurt Trescothick after he had claimed he was ready for the job. "At the moment it's something I'm trying not to think about," Trescothick said. "If we need a successor to the captaincy, if needed, I'm going to be looking to take over." Trescothick believes English cricket is at its best. "As to where we are compared to the Aussies, we're unsure at the moment. Every country's game changes when they play against better teams. With people like me and Michael (Vaughan), Usman Afzaal in the last game, Ian Ward, we're all learning, how to be the next generation of English cricket." Trescothick had excelled at every level from the time he started at the age of 11. He had been a prolific run-getter for England at under-19 level and led a team to the West Indies. "It's something I've always done through junior cricket," Trescothick said of his right to the captaincy. "Some people are born into it (leadership) and that's something I've done throughout my career." Trescothick admitted the next two years of his career will be crucial in molding his captaincy career. "Between now and the next couple of years I need to gain more experience, and that will happen slowly. Things are in the pipeline now to look after themselves," Trescothick said. Cox remembered Trescothick as a "sloppy pro" when the Australian first joined Somerset in 1999. "He was just a big, fat kid who used to hit the ball like he does now -- so hard," Cox recalled. "He had a really simple game. People here felt he was just going to be the big, soft kid who teased everybody and never became as good as he could be." When he was forced to open after Mark Ramprakash had failed, Trescothick embraced test cricket with reassuring calmness and maturity beyond his age. Trescothick, first impressed Duncan Fletcher in September 1999, when the Zimbabwean was fulfilling his Glamorgan coaching duties before taking over the England job. As Fletcher watched, Trescothick smashed 167 on a bad wicket and on the strength of that innings, he was sent to Bangladesh and New Zealand with the England A later that winter. Four months later he was opening the batting with Atherton in the third test against the West Indies at Old Trafford. "A little bit," a modest Trescothick said when asked if he was surprised by his sudden rise. "I didn't go that well in first-class cricket for a couple of years after the under 19 experience. I fell away. I was two months in, two months out of the Somerset side." His batting was so bad that he was forced to play as a fourth seamer for Somerset and forced to bat low in the order. Trescothick spent two seasons playing club cricket in Western Australia where he worked with former England opener and his mentor Paul Terry. "I couldn't cope with all the bowling, but I forced my way back in as a batsman eventually. Then I really kicked on after I came back from Australia. It helped me immensely. My game changed month by month and I gradually became the player I'd threatened to be for many years. "I've always been an attacking player -- people have natural games and that's mine. I learned to develop the other side of it as well."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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