Surpassing the Test

Butch: retirement is 'terrific'

When things were tricky, or when we were playing against the better teams, it brought the best out of me.

Mark Butcher
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Mark Butcher told Cricket AM that he believes that modern-day professionals are becoming more adept at adapting to the challenges of Test cricket.

The former England left-hander is impressed with the way that some of the game's up-and-coming stars, such as England's Eoin Morgan and Pakistan's Mohammad Amir, have begun their Test careers.

Butch, 37, made the first of his 71 Test appearances against Australia in 1997 in a team that featured Surrey colleagues Alec Stewart and Graham Thorpe but admitted that it took him some time to feel at home in the highest level of the game.

"Players now seem to get into Test match cricket and be able to perform straight away, whereas when I started it took 20-odd Test matches before I felt like I knew what I was doing at that level," he said. "So something has changed along the way.

"The fact that I had guys around me that I'd played a lot of cricket with was a great help, but you still had to go out there and face the ball and take the pressure of being an international cricketer.

"I think players actually adjust to that better now than they did back in the time when I started."

Grateful

Of the eight tons Butch made in his Test career, two came against South Africa and three were against Australia - including his match-winning 173no in the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley in August 2001.

"I used to just enjoy playing against those guys," he reflected. "Their reputations never really bothered me. I was terrible against some of the teams you are expected to score runs against. I think I averaged about 12 against Bangladesh!

"One thing that I perhaps regret in my career was that I wasn't able to really cash in when everything was in my favour. But when things were tricky, or when we were playing against the better teams, it brought the best out of me.

"I just remember [in that 2001 knock against Australia] being able to hit the ball wherever I wanted to hit it. In 20 years I had a week's worth of days like that! It just so happened that it happened on that stage against that team.

"I'm eternally grateful for the chance to have played. It was only because guys like Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan had been injured that I got the chance to get back into the England side during that series. Once I got back in the team I didn't look back for three or four years.

"In the same series I was on a hat-trick against Australia at Edgbaston and I narrowly missed getting Glenn McGrath out, which would have been a five-for and a hat-trick; I think that probably would have surpassed the hundred, actually, if I'd managed to do that.

Golden

The former Surrey skipper made his last first-class appearance for the county at the Oval in 2009 before announcing his retirement some 17 years after making his first-class debut.

He will always have a strong affinity to the county, and is closely following the fortunes of the side under new captain Rory Hamilton-Brown, but admits that he has found a new lease of life since quitting the game.

"It's great!" he said. Summer time has taken on a whole new meaning, being able to get out on the golf course, play with the kids and do all sorts of stuff that I haven't done for 20 years in the English summer-time.

"I knew it was time to retire - the legs weren't carrying me any more so I haven't looked back really.

"I miss first mornings of Test matches; I loved the two days build-up for any Test match, the atmosphere and apprehension and the tension of that - but apart from that I'm pretty happy with where I am now.

"I loved the whole experience of being a professional cricketer, from start to finish, which is why I don't regret anything now. It was a terrific career, I played for a very long time, I loved playing at Surrey for all that time - I never even considered that I would play anywhere else.

"You share a lot of highs and lows with all these people. At the end of the day you are playing a game for a living - it doesn't get much better than that.

"It was a very fortunate period of time for the club where we had a lot of guys, all round about the same age, who played youth cricket together and came through and became a very successful county side together.

"A lot of us played Test matches and one-day games together as well. It was a golden period for the club and a very lucky time to be part of it."