There is something biblical about Marcus Trescothick's career: seven years of plenty as a schoolboy, seven years of famine when he reached the Somerset 1st XI. And lo, it came to pass in 1999 that he batted on a pacy pitch at Taunton against Glamorgan while Duncan Fletcher was their coach, and made a storming 167, with five sixes, when the next-best score was 50. When England needed a stand-in one-day opener in 2000, Fletcher remembered Trescothick. He took to international cricket like a duck to a TV screen. A true opener, he formed a habit of starting a series well with a mixture of expert leaves, crisp cover-drives, spanking pulls and fearless slog-sweeps. Hefty, knock-kneed and genial, he is described by Nasser Hussain as a left-handed Gooch, but his ease on the big stage and his blazing one-day strokeplay are just as reminiscent of David Gower. His first four England hundreds came in a losing cause, confirming his ability to keep his head while all around are losing theirs. Opening in Tests with Mike Atherton, Trescothick acquired the air of a senior player as if by osmosis - he joined the management committee on his first tour. All that stands between him and the top drawer is a tendency to get out when well set, to make a breezy 20 or 30. He seemed to have conquered this with a domineering home season in 2002, but it reappeared - like so many English frailties - as soon as the team landed in Australia. Trescothick endured fluctuating fortunes over the next couple of seasons. He showed glimpses of his blazing best against South Africa in 2003, when he capped his season with a determined 219 (and 69 not out) in the astonishing series-levelling victory at The Oval, but his form slid away drastically in the Caribbean that winter. The selectors never lost faith with him, and having stood in as captain for the first Test of the 2004 season, Trescothick cracked a pair of hundreds against West Indies at Edgbaston. At Johannesburg in 2004-05, he set up England's series victory with a brutal 180 on the final morning, and carried his domineering form into the home season. Having bullied 345 runs in two innings against the Bangladeshis, he spearheaded a no-holds-barred approach against Australia with 431 runs and a top score of 90, as he - and England - finally got the better of the one nation that really mattered. But his winter was cut short when he returned home suddenly from India under a cloak of secrecy, and after an indifferent summer it was announced he would miss the Champions Trophy as he was still recovering from a stress-related illness. He was included in the Ashes squad for the 2006-07 campaign Down Under but lasted less than two weeks before he was again boarding a flight back home with a recurrence of his illness. His return to action started with Somerset and his 2007 form, plus England's continued failings in one-day cricket, meant he was recalled to England's preliminary 30-man squad for the Twenty20 World Championships. But he never made the cut, and, in March 2008, days after withdrawing from Somerset's pre-season tour to the UAE, he announced his retirement from international cricket. His autobiography, Coming Back to Me, was due for publication on September 1, 2008.
Tim de Lisle March 2008

NBC Denis Compton Award 1996,1997
Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2005

Awarded the MBE in 2005

• van Jaarsveld named PCA Player of the Year (Sep 30, 2008)
  
• Harmison and Trescothick up for award (Sep 23, 2008)
  
• Fatal obsession (Sep 14, 2008)
  
• Ashes are inspiring England - Trescothick (Sep 8, 2008)
  
• Hampshire's turnaround (Sep 1, 2008)
  

View the full list of 326 related articles

Sep 25, 2008 Plenty to think about: it was a tough day for Justin Langer at Taunton © Getty Images

Sep 3, 2008 Andre Adams celebrates taking the wicket of Marcus Trescothick © PA Photos

Aug 31, 2008 The cover of Marcus Trescothick's new autobiography, 'Coming Back to Me' © HarperCollins

View the full list of 442 related images