Mark Butcher

Mark Butcher

Personal information
Full name	Mark Alan Butcher
Born	(1972-08-23) 23 August 1972 (age 44) Croydon, Greater London, England
Nickname	Butch, Baz
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Batting style	Left-handed
Bowling style	Right arm medium
Relations	AR Butcher (father), GP Butcher (brother)
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 584)	5 June 1997 v Australia
Last Test	30 December 2004 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1992–2009	Surrey
Career statistics
Competition Test FC LA T20 Matches 71 280 191 13 Runs scored 4,288 17,870 4,460 210 Batting average 34.58 40.70 31.85 17.50 100s/50s 8/23 38/95 2/28 –/2 Top score 173* 259 139 60 Balls bowled 901 7,703 2,527 – Wickets 15 125 49 – Bowling average 36.06 33.89 45.10 – 5 wickets in innings – 1 – – 10 wickets in match – – – – Best bowling 4/42 5/86 3/23 – Catches/stumpings 61/– 263/– 63/– 4/–
Source: Cricinfo, 6 August 2009

Mark Alan Butcher (born Croydon, London, 23 August 1972) is a former English Test cricketer, who played county cricket for Surrey from 1992 until his retirement from the sport in 2009. He was a left-handed batsman, and occasional right-arm medium-pace bowler.

Butcher played all his county cricket for Surrey, for whom he made his first-class debut in 1992. He made his Test match debut in the first Test of the 1997 Ashes series at Edgbaston. His last Test match was in December 2004, when he had played 71 Tests, making eight centuries and averaging over 34.

Butcher captained England once, in a draw with New Zealand in 1999 when Nasser Hussain was injured. He never appeared in a One Day International (ODI). Of players who have started in international cricket since the first ODI in 1970–71, Butcher is the "runaway leader" in terms of playing the most Test matches without appearing in an ODI. Butcher played in 71 Tests, but as of April 2004 no other player in the ODI era had played in more than 30 Tests without playing in an ODI.

Butcher enjoyed a reasonably good start to his Test career, hitting two half-centuries in five matches against a powerful Australian side. He then struggled (along with the rest of the England side) against the West Indies that winter, averaging just 15. However, in the next series he did very well, scoring two fifties and a century against South African side. Though he followed that with another impressive hundred against Australia in the first Ashes Test that winter, he then failed for the rest of that series. A poor run of form followed, as he failed to score a half-century in twelve consecutive matches. Despite being appointed stand-in captain for one Test against New Zealand, he was dropped from the side in the winter of 2000.