Courtney Trott: Cricket To The Core
[Written by Patrick Bean]
‘You don’t play for the crowd, you play for the country!’ – MS Dhoni [former India captain]
Intrinsic within the conscience of Bermuda national cricket team manager Courtney Trott is that of remaining loyal to the community one represents, whether it be country, county, or club.
Beyond the noisy cheers of ravenous fans, the self-centered desire for individual accolades and a place of his own among the Mount Rushmore of sporting greats, Trott is a team man who diligently performs nondescript duties that largely go unnoticed, yet impact greatly the final on-field product.
As team manager of the Bermuda squad that recently topped the standings at the ICC T20 World Cup Americas Sub-Regional Qualifiers, while securing passage to the final round of qualifying for the World Cup, which the island is due to host in the fall, Trott embraced and performed with aplomb his tour responsibilities, enabling players to singularly focus upon game performance, rather than any off-field intrusions.
Among Trott’s tasks were that of assisting the coaching staff with any off-field requirements; managing all administrative team affairs; sorting out all logistics, team kits, equipment and financial transactions.
That there were no reported glitches or faux pas during the tour of the South American nation are testament to Trott’s sound organisational abilities, which were honed over the course of many years he spent in administrative capacities at the Corporation of St George’s.
Nevertheless, to isolate the married, 49-year-old father of one as just another backroom staffer would be to ignore a significant past-life as a top prospect in his youth and an accomplished practitioner of the gentleman’s game. Trott was inexorably called to the wicket as if by the spirits possessed within his lineage and sealed upon the consciousness.
“I started playing when I was about six or seven in the summer programs that the BCB used to do,” said Trott of his earliest foray into team participation. “I moved into the Shell Youth League for Smith’s and then onto Junior Counties and junior league cricket for Cleveland, before entering into the senior team at 15 and continued to play up until I was about 41 or 42.”
Still, even in retirement the cricket bug persisted, with Trott willfully succumbing to the inescapable in making the transition from player to coach, with managerial attachments both at club and national levels.
There have been moments in recent times where Trott has been called to dust off and polish his playing gear as a fill-in for his club, with the quadragenarian still showing glimpses of past form.
“Once I stopped playing seriously I began coaching and managing at Cleveland, even though I have had to play a game or two here and there over the past five years, when the team may have been short,” said Trott of his occasional appearances. “Cricket is something that I have always loved and as I have gotten older and learned more of my family history, I think it is just something I was born into.
“My grandpa, Henry Trott, was a founding member of Harrington Workman’s Club, which most people would know as Devil’s Hole Club.
“I only found out last year that my great-great-grandpa, Charlie Hollis, played in the first county game for Tucker’s Town. And another family member of mine originally donated the land that Cleveland still train on today.
“Cricket is just something that has been with me ever since I was a little child. I’m just an extension of a long lineage of cricketers.”
Asked if there might be something in the area’s water supply influencing the attraction, Trott chuckled before offering a shoulder shrug of befuddlement.
“I don’t know,” was the initial response. “Growing up in Devil’s Hole, Eastern Counties was everything to us. Cup Match was what it is, but Eastern Counties was the major thing. It was the event that everybody aspired to so, growing up, for as long as I can remember, we went to all three games no matter what, whether Cleveland was playing or not.
“It’s what we did for the summer and was always the main focus and, I believe from that, that’s where we got the feel and developed the appetite for playing, watching, studying – just loving cricket.”
It is this longing for the sport that Trott attempts to impart on the youngsters he coaches at the club, as well as those among the Bermuda Under-19 squad, where he is the lead assistant to head coach and BCB president Arnold Manders.
“County game just means the world to people in the Devil’s Hole community,” said Trott, father to Isaiah Wales, while married to Rodlyn. “Because, just as I try to instill in the young people, and how it is with members of the team, when it comes to county it’s community first, club second and you, as a player, third and the same with the national players, it’s country first, team second, and then the individual.
“So what I say to players when they get the opportunity to go out there, ‘You are, first and foremost, representing the community’.”
Trott’s dedication to the sport, to his country, to club and community, is obvious.
And while it has been commonplace for players to bounce from team to team in search of glory, Trott’s commitment to Cleveland has never waned nor wavered, the tall, lanky former all-rounder always rooted in the club’s traditional blue and white.
Said Trott: “You have players who bounce from team to team, but for me, it would not be the same to play for anyone else.
“I mean, other than Flatts, because that is where my father was from and, funny enough, as I was telling some Flatts people at a game last year, I am the only person in my family who’s a Cleveland supporter, everybody else is Flatts.
“My daddy played county for Flatts. My cousins, they all played for Flatts, because that’s where they were born and grew up. I just happened to grow up in Devil’s Hole, and you know how you want to play with your friends.
“So, that’s where my Cleveland connection came about and, when I was younger I always looked up to Allan Douglas Sr, as he was probably one of the better players in the team at the time.
“I also always admired Grant Smith, both bowling and batting and the way he carried himself. Then there’s Manga – Albert Simons – who, unfortunately, died recently.
“Those were the senior members in the team when I first came into the senior team, along with guys like Aaron Adams and Peter Philpott.”
Trott represented Bermuda internationally as part of a Bermuda Under-19 contingent that toured Canada in 1989, which included among its ranks many big-time players that would go on to ingrain themselves in local cricketing lore, the likes of ‘Mr Cup Match’ Janeiro Tucker, as well as the late Glenn Blakeney, Irving Romaine, twins Dwayne and Dwight Basden, along with Davon Wade.
But Cleveland was and is what matters most to Trott, with the 2014 capture of the holy grail standing foremost in memory.
“The highlight I would have to say was Cleveland winning the county in 2014,” he said. “That was the first time we had won county in 30-odd years and the first time we had beaten St David’s in 60-odd years.”
The trophy long since surrendered and a rebuild of his cherished coterie ongoing, there remains no doubt as to that which lies atop Trott’s priority list.
Nuff Respect for Courtney and the rest of the supporting staff for the fine job they are doing with the National squad…..Keep up the good work
Beg to concur with your sentiments Recman, my friend. It’s said:”The best ‘ability’ is ‘availability’ …. and Courtney is always present, doing tasks that go largely unnoticed, but are critical in their function to any team’s success/failure.