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 Marcus Trescothick

My Honour
It will be a great honour for me to lead out England at Lord’s on Thursday although I wish it could have been under different circumstances. The reason I get my chance at the home of cricket is because my opening partner Michael Vaughan will not have recovered from his freak net injury to his right-knee in time.  

Losing arguably our best batsman is a big blow for the team and we all hope that Vaughny returns as quickly as possible.
I have captained England at Under 19 level and in a couple of one-day matches but this will be the first time in a  Test match and I could not have wished it at a better setting - Lord’s is nothing less than fantastic.
The new series is against New Zealand, who are a very good side and in Stephen Fleming they have a captain who is regarded in many quarters as the best in the world.  With all due respect to his players, there are no superstars under the Black Caps, but what they do have - and it is equally and possibly more important - is a great team spirit.  They really gel as a team and it works for them.  They command the upmost respect and that’s what we will give them.
It is essential that we do well against New Zealand particularly after the great strides we took and the history we achieved in the West Indies.  The entire trip could not have gone much better for us and in the Test matches we played some of the best cricket we have for a long time.
Now it is very important that we keep performing and progressing because we don not want to rest on what we have done.
We have done well, but what we have achieved is only a start as we work to bigger and better goals.   We must kick on and it all starts at Lord’s.
 


Written by Marcus Trescothick


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