It was two months ago and in England, but here is the ball that won back the Ashes On September 11 in England, Mitchell Johnson delivered a short ball which struck Jonathan Trott on the grill of his helmet. Robert Craddock says that was the ball that helped Australia regain the Ashes. Trott grimaces after he is hit by the Johnson bouncer. MITCHELL Johnson did not know it at the time but he bowled the ball which won the Ashes way back on September 11 - in England. It was a flaming arrow of a short ball on a sluggish wicket in a 50-over match between Australia and England at Edgbaston. It cannoned directly into the helmet grill of English batsman Jonathan Trott and from that point dictated the course of the man who faced it and the one unlucky enough to wear it. Trott was twice saved by video referrals in close lbw shouts against Johnson in that innings but this was different. Trott survived this appeal, but was pinned by a Johnson thunderbolt. For here, suddenly, was a ball he somehow could not counter. Had it been a social tennis match these sorts of standout plays gets recognised by the words "too good" but in the bitterly competitive world of professional cricket, batsmen cannot even afford to think those words, never mind say them. But that was the problem. Trott did think them. Trott grimaces after he is hit by a Johnson bouncer. Craddock says Trott never really recovered. The ball did not hurt him physically but the mental damage was significant. Trott knew that Johnson would only be a greater threat on bouncier Australia wickets so from that point he went about preparing for him like he had for few bowlers in the past. Test selector Ashley Giles was summoned to throw down short balls to him for extended early morning net sessions and for a while Trott's technique against the short stuff took perfect shape. But that was at home in a net. As well as he was hitting the ball each net session this ritual was, in fact, a reminder that his date with destiny was looming and that one wretched ball was shaping his short term cricketing life. Trott off, out caught by Nathan Lyon off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson at the Gabba. The pressure kept rising. By the time he reached Australia he was overcooked. So instead of being ripe for the challenge when he met Johnson at the Gabba he was already over the hump and sliding on the down slope towards a very dark place. His second innings dismissal, where he meekly scooped the ball to a fieldsman behind square, was almost an admission that his battle had been lost before he came to the crease. He was mentally "gone," a shell of the fighter he was it he best. What followed next may never be known to those outside the England room but it's fallout shaped the tour. Trott returned to the England dressing and some time in the next few hours, engulfed by severe stress, felt the need to abandon the tour. It was difficult not feel sympathy for Trott, in his hour of meltdown, but also his teammates who saw him in such a state for one could only imagine the effect it would have had on them. Imagine it. Your serene batting rock, the batsman who lives in a bubble and calms others down, falling apart in front of your very eyes. News Limited journalist Robert 'Crash' Craddock reviews Australia's Ashes victory, with Darren Lehmann's men looking to inflict further damage with a series whitewash. You don't get over that sort of thing quickly and England didn't. England were in strife before Trott left but since that point there has been a certain pall of gloom over the entire tour. England's batting has been so poor on tour that Trott should be allowed to return to international cricket at some point. Strangely enough his short term role models are the winning Australian team many of whom have been down, out and discarded but somehow found their way to the top of the mountain.