By Tom Fordyce

Trescothick: Staring at an uncertain future

Had someone told you a year ago that one of England's opening batsmen would be appointed as their new one-day captain, you would not have been surprised.

Marcus Trescothick was the coming man of both the Test and one-day sides, a destructive force with the bat and a growing influence with management.

A former England under-19 captain, he was the clear favourite to succeed Nasser Hussain when the older man decided to retire.

A year on, Trescothick has been reduced to occasional brief mentions in dispatches while his Test opening partner Michael Vaughan is given the job to universal applause.

How did things turn around so quickly? And is he paying too high a price for a slump in form that may just be temporary?

The Somerset man's one-day record is impressive - particularly when compared with Vaughan's.

Trescothick averages 36 over 61 innings; Vaughan 23 from 26. Trescothick has four one-day hundreds and 12 half-centuries with a top score of 137; Vaughan just four 50s and a biggest knock of 63.

But the last few months tell a different story. Trescothick's last eight one-day innings for England read as follows: 6, 0, 0, 12, 58, 1, 8 and 37.

That average of 15 ties in with a run of Test scores which has seen him fail to make a 50 in his last nine innings, with an average of 21.

In the meantime Vaughan has been busy smashing run-scoring records all over the place, scoring more Test runs (1,481) in a calendar year than any Englishman in history and averaging more than 70 in his last 10 Tests.

His one-day form is also on the up, with three half-centuries in his last six innings at an average of 33.

Trescothick's form fell away over the winter

In that period there were signs that England coach Duncan Fletcher was beginning to lose faith in other aspects of Trescothick's game.

Despite success in his first match as one-day skipper (against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo in 2001) and his position as the official vice-captain for the World Cup, Trescothick was passed over in favour of Alec Stewart when Nasser Hussain missed the match against Namibia through injury.

It was a bad day for him in more ways than one. England won the match comfortably in the end, but had rain fallen from the darkening skies above it could have been a very different story.

Namibia were 132 for two after 28 overs and, with storm clouds brewing, were 11 runs ahead on the Duckworth/Lewis method.

It was only after 37 overs, by which time Namibia had lost another couple of wickets, that England had any control of the game.

Stewart was shocked to learn in the post-match news conference that England could have lost - understandably so, for the man he had put in charge of Duckworth/Lewis calculations, Trescothick, had failed to spot the danger.

All of which spells a difficult future for Trescothick. His batting is under the spotlight - witness the new stance that he debuted during the World Cup - and his limelight has been stolen.

He can take comfort from the fact that Vaughan will be looking to him for help as he begins to build a one-day side capable of challenging for the next World Cup.

And in a new-look team shorn of experienced players like Hussain, Stewart, Nick Knight and Andy Caddick, even a Banger that has lost its spark is worth having around.