Marcus Trescothick

His father was a good amateur cricketer, and had played two matches for Somerset County Cricket Club's second team and appeared for Bristol and District Cricket Association between 1967 and 1976, before becoming a stalwart at Keynsham Cricket Club, where his mother made the club teas.

Trescothick was immersed into cricket from an early age; the notice announcing his birth in the local newspaper had a quote from his father saying "he will have every encouragement to become a cricketer when he grows up", and he received his first cricket bat when he was eleven months old.

During his time at St Anne's primary school, he was chosen to play for the Avon School under-11 cricket team.

He scored the first century for Avon, striking 124 against Devon, and a couple of weeks later remained not out on 183 when the coach declared the innings closed, claiming "if I let him get a double-hundred at his age, what else would he have to aim for?"

That score created some interest in the local media, and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club invited him to play for their under-11 team.

In his second match for the county, he scored a century against Somerset, who then discovered that Trescothick, living in Keynsham, was qualified to play for them, and he switched from Gloucestershire to Somerset, proud to play for his father's old county.

His education continued at the Sir Bernard Lovell School in Oldland Common near Bristol, and by the age of 14 he was playing alongside his father for Keynsham in the Western League.

Around the same time, he was selected to play for the England under-14s alongside future international team-mates Andrew Flintoff and Paul Collingwood.

In his autobiography, Coming Back to Me, Trescothick recalls that he was bigger than most of the other boys his age, which gave him a strength advantage, enabling him to hit the ball harder and further than others.

At the same time, concerns were raised about his "portly" figure, with suggestions that he would need to work on his fitness.

The following season, aged 15, Trescothick scored 4,000 runs between all the different teams he was representing, which by this time included the Somerset under-19s.

He was named as the "outstanding young cricketer of the year" by The Cricketer.

He was nicknamed Tresco and Banger, the latter deriving from his diet as a young player:

My diet was sausages then, in no particular order, sausages, chips, sausages, toast, sausages, beans, sausages, cheese, sausages, eggs, and the occasional sausage.

Marcus Edward Trescothick (born 25 December 1975) is an English former cricketer who played first-class cricket for Somerset County Cricket Club, and represented England in 76 Test matches and 123 One Day Internationals.

Marcus Edward Trescothick was born on 25 December 1975 in Keynsham, Somerset.

He was the younger of two children born to Martyn and Linda Trescothick; his sister, Anna, is three years older than him.

A left-handed opening batsman, he made his first-class debut for Somerset in 1993 and quickly established himself as a regular member of the team.

Having played for the English U-19 cricket team against the West Indies in 1993, and Sri Lanka and India in 1994, Trescothick was named captain for the two Under-19 series against West Indies and South Africa in 1995.

His career aggregate of 1,032 runs for England U-19 is second only to John Crawley's 1,058.

Trescothick's first full season at Somerset in 1994 was one of his best, where he scored a total of 925 runs, including two centuries and eight half-centuries at an impressive batting average of 48.63.

Trescothick was not as successful in domestic cricket in 1995, although there were still some highlights including an innings of 151 against Northamptonshire (a third of his season's total), and a hat-trick, including the wicket of century-maker Adam Gilchrist, for Somerset against Young Australia.

Trescothick's England Under-19 form was still excellent, averaging 74.62 with the bat in six matches.

His Under-19 team mates would often mock him for wearing an England blazer after his matches; Trescothick would reply by saying that "it might be the closest I get to playing for England".

The following five years were mixed for Trescothick.

Averaging about 30 runs per innings, he was often criticised for a lack of foot movement.

Trescothick made his One Day International (ODI) debut seven years later, against Zimbabwe in July 2000.

His Test debut, against the West Indies, followed in August.

Although former England captain Nasser Hussain likened Trescothick's build and batting temperament to that of Graham Gooch, his stroke play is more reminiscent of David Gower.

An aggressive opener, he once held the record for the most ODI centuries of any English player, and for the fastest half-century in English Twenty20 cricket.

Trescothick is also an accomplished slip fielder and occasional right-handed medium pace bowler who has kept wicket for England in five ODIs, and deputised as England captain for two Test matches and ten ODIs.

Trescothick was an automatic choice for England between 2000 and 2006, before a stress-related illness threatened his career and forced him to pull out of the national squad.

He began rebuilding his career with Somerset in 2007 and scored two double-centuries that season.

However, he remained uneasy about returning to international cricket, and announced his retirement from internationals in March 2008, opting to continue playing at county level for Somerset.

Media speculation continued as to a possible international return, Trescothick repeatedly voiced his intent to remain in retirement, and has suffered recurrences of his condition in both 2008 and 2009 when Somerset toured abroad.

He nevertheless continued to play for Somerset while also working as a commentator and analyst for Sky Sports in the off-season.

He was Somerset captain from 2010 to 2016 and temporary England captain for several Tests and ODIs.

Since retirement he has commentated and coached at both county and international level.

He finally retired in 2019 holding several Somerset batting records.

He is currently the lead batting coach for the England Test team.