Mark Andrew Crawley (born 16 December 1967) is a former English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er. Crawley was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, th ...

who bowled right-arm

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation *Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium of ...

. He was born in

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 22,114. Newton-le-Willows is on the eastern edge of St Helens, south of Wigan and north of Warrington. Th ...

, Lancashire.

Early career

Crawley made his first-class debut for

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

against

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 1987. From 1987 to 1990, he represented the University in 24 first-class matches, the last of which came against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. During his 4 seasons with the University, he scored 1,189 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average i ...

of 44.03, with 8 half centuries, 3

centuries A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

and a high score of 140. In the field he took 17 catches. With the ball he claimed 24 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 62.29, with a single

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Takin ...

which gave him best figures of 6/92. While playing for the University, Crawley also made a single first-class appearance for a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities team against the touring

New Zealanders New Zealanders ( mi, Tāngata Aotearoa), colloquially known as Kiwis (), are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citiz ...

in 1990. In 1987, he made his debut in

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numb ...

for a

Combined Universities The British Universities cricket team was a cricket team whose players were drawn from university students studying in Great Britain. The team played under the title of Combined Universities until 1995. The team played List A cricket from 1975 t ...

team against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

in the 1987

Benson and Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

. From 1987 to 1990, he represented the Combined Universities in 13 List A matches, the last of which came against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in the 1990 Benson and Hedges Cup.

County career

In 1990, Crawley made a single first-class appearance for

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

against the touring

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. The following season he joined

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, making his first-class debut for the county against Oxford University. From 1991 to 1994, he represented the county in 54 first-class matches, the last of which came against

in the 1994

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

. In his 54 first-class matches for the county, he scored 2,047 runs at an average of 28.04, with 6 half centuries, 5 centuries and a high score of 160 *. In the field he took 50 catches, while with the ball he took 37 wickets at an average of 38.18, with best figures of 3/18. During the same period from 1991 to 1994, Crawley played 63 List A matches for Nottinghamshire, the last of which came against Worcestershire in the 1994 AXA Equity and Law League. In his 63 matches for the county in that format, he scored 1,093 runs at an average of 26.02, with 4 half centuries and a high score of 94 *. In the field he took 18 catches. With the ball he took 35 wickets at an average of 37.91, with best figures of 4/26. In 1999, he made a single List A appearance for the

Middlesex Cricket Board The Middlesex Cricket Board was formed in 1996. It is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Middlesex. The Board of the MCB consists of four representatives nominated by the Middlesex County Cricket Club ...

against Cumberland in the

1999 NatWest Trophy The 1999 NatWest Trophy was the 19th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 4 May and 29 August 1999. The tournament was won by Gloucestershire who defeated Somerset by 50 runs in the f ...

.Middlesex Cricket Board v Cumberland, 1999 NatWest Trophy
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Family

His youngest brother,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

, played

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and

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

cricket for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He also played first-class cricket for Lancashire, Cambridge University and

. His younger brother

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University. He is now married to Natasha Crawley with three children, Lottie Crawley (a graduate from the University of Oxford), Sam Crawley (a student at Loughborough University) and Francesca Crawley

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, Mark 1967 births Living people People from Newton-le-Willows Sportspeople from Lancashire English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Lancashire cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Middlesex Cricket Board cricketers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford British Universities cricketers Cricketers from Merseyside