Troubled England batsman Jonathan Trott returned to high-level competitive cricket on Thursday evening.

Turning out for Warwickshire in a T20 Blast clash against Northamptonshire, Trott, who was schooled in South Africa at Rondebosch Boys’ High School, made just 1 off seven balls.

However, he seemed less concerned with his score, and merely looked happy to be involved in proper cricket again. He was seen joking and laughing with teammates in the dugout and looked a different man to the one who couldn’t buy a run during the 2013-14 Ashes.

Trott’s captain at Warwickshire, Varun Chopra, said that his return had ‘been in the pipeline for a couple of weeks’, and that he had been playing for the second XI in an attempt to get some match practice. He had made a fifty and a century for the lower level team, but couldn’t translate that form into runs in the shortest form of the game.

Last night’s clash was Trott’s first fixture at this level since he pulled out of playing for Warwickshire early in the season. He had signed for the County at the beginning of the year as part of a process aimed at getting him back into the right mental shape, following his mental disintegration as a result of ‘burnout’ during the aforementioned Ashes tour Down Under.

However, Trott lasted just three weeks in the new season before suffering a ‘relapse’, and withdrawing himself from all cricket. It now appears he will attempt another comeback, starting with low-key T20 fixtures and perhaps a first-class County game in the next few weeks.

Trott’s failure last night did not affect his team, who thrashed Northamptonshire by eight wickets. After putting the visitors in to bat, Warwickshire restricted them to 133-7, before reaching the target in just 16 overs, thanks to Irish batsman William Porterfield.

Appearing for Northamptonshire was Cobras batsman Richard Levi, who couldn’t make an impact, registering just a single before being caught.

Photo: Joe Giddens/PA Wire/Backpagepix