Trott: Facing Johnson was terrifying

Cape Town - Former England batsman Jonathan Trott has revealed in his new autobiography that facing Mitchell Johnson during the Ashes in Australia felt like going up against a firing squad.

Trott famously left that tour in the middle of the series in 2013 due to a stress-related mental illness, and he now says that it was terrifying facing Johnson, and all the Aussies knew it.

Trott wrote in 'Unguarded': "I felt I was being led out to face the firing squad by the time we reached Brisbane. 

"I was a condemned man. Helpless, blindfolded and handcuffed. Mitchell Johnson was to be my executioner.

"And they know I'm struggling. They're circled like hyenas round a dying zebra."

He added: "I felt I was being questioned as a man. I felt my dignity was being stripped away with every short ball I ducked or parried. It was degrading. It was agony. 

"One day, I'd like to shake him by the hand and say, 'Well bowled'. 

"I don't bear him an ounce of resentment. Test cricket is meant to be hard and he was admirably ruthless."

Aside from this snippet, Trott's book has already caused a bit of drama after he seemingly accused former England captain Michael Vaughan of having it in for him, in order to advance Vaughan's fellow clients at management company ISM. 

Vaughan has since called those ideas nonsense, and has contacted legal representation over the matter.