Mark Lathwell
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Mark Nicholas Lathwell (born 26 December 1971) is a former English
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
er who played in two
Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...
in 1993. Lathwell played the entirety of his
first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...
career for
Somerset County Cricket Club Somerset County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of Somer ...
.


Early career and England U19 matches

Born in
Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, in the south-west of the city, split between the civil parishes in England, civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley, which In 2011 had a com ...
, Milton Keynes, Lathwell attended Braunton Community College and began his career playing for the Somerset Second XI, aged 18, in 1990. He made his
limited overs Limited overs cricket, also known as white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed within one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty20 cricket (3-h ...
debut in a rain-affected match against Glamorgan Second XI in which he scored 18
not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...
and bowled seven
over Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England * Over, Cheshire, England **Over Bridge * Over, South Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, England * Over, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, England * Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Ov ...
s for 25 runs. He then played in the corresponding three-day match, scoring 17 and 10 in a heavy defeat for Somerset. Attention was drawn to Lathwell when he played against Sussex Second XI in June 1990. Opening the batting, he scored 168 not out and put on a
partnership A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations ...
of 235 for the third wicket with Nick Pringle. Lathwell also took the only wicket in Sussex's (declared) first innings, and scored 37 in the second. He then scored 69 runs in the match against Leicestershire Second XI, before making his
List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, 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 competit ...
debut against the touring
Sri Lankans This is a demography of the population of Sri Lanka including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the population, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Sri Lanka is an island in th ...
, bowling seven overs. At the start of the 1991 season, Lathwell played for the English U-19 cricket team against the Sussex side he overpowered the previous summer, although he was
run out Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, in which the fielding team put down the wicket of a batter who is outside their ground, usually because they are trying to score a run. Run out is governed by Law 38 of the laws of cricket. If ...
for just two runs. He scored eight half-centuries over the summer, before breaking into the Somerset First XI first in the 40-over competition, and then for the final first-class match of the season. For England Young Cricketers, Lathwell played in two Youth
One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...
s (ODIs) and three Youth
Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Indoor cricket, Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (associa ...
against Australia Young Cricketers, scoring 262 runs at an
average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...
of 32.75 and a top score of 66.


First season for Somerset First XI

The 1992 season saw Lathwell in the Second XI, but he was beginning to break through into the First XI in one-day cricket. He opened the batting in two matches against the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
(scoring 52 in the second). Lathwell top scored in the first Sunday League match of the season against
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
to set up a comfortable 4 wicket win. Two days later, Somerset played Kent again in the
Benson & 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 Engla ...
, succumbing to a heavy defeat, Lathwell inexplicably batting at number 9. After another half-century for the Second XI, Lathwell was now firmly in the first team for the remainder of the season. It was an excellent debut season for Lathwell, scoring eleven half-centuries and one century (114 against
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
) in first-class cricket. There was a lean spell in the middle of the season with consecutive scores of 1, 2, 3, 0 and 4, but Lathwell responded well with five innings between 45 and 72 and finished with a highly respectable average of 36.75 in first-class cricket. Lathwell was now established as an opening batsman, and was seldom used as a bowler, only taking wickets in for the season. He scored well in List A cricket too, but failed to convert any scores into centuries (his highest being 85, 93 and 95). Lathwell was rewarded with his Somerset
County Cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...
, and was called into the England A touring squad to Australia. Lathwell was one of the successes of the England A tour, scoring 175 against
Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
, and adding another hundred against
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
at the SCG against an attack that included a young
Glenn McGrath Glenn Donald McGrath (; born 9 February 1970) is an Australian former international cricketer whose career spanned 14 years. He was a fast-medium pace bowler and is considered one of cricket's greatest bowlers and a leading contributor to Aus ...
.


England career

In the summer of 1993, with
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
suffering a poor run of results and already 2–0 down in
the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, ...
, Lathwell was called up into the England side. Along with three other debutants (two of whom,
Graham Thorpe Graham Paul Thorpe (1 August 1969 – 4 August 2024) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Surrey, and represented England in 100 Test matches. He also played 82 One Day Internationals (ODIs) including appearances at the ...
and Mark Ilott, had also been on the England 'A' tour the previous winter), Lathwell made his England debut on 1 July 1993 against
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
in the Third
Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
at
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...
. Ironically, by the time of his England selection Lathwell's form had undergone a decline, and he made only 4 and 0 in his last game for Somerset before his Test debut. However Lathwell scored 20 in the first innings of his first Test and 33 in the second, and, assisted by a century from Thorpe, England at least managed to draw the Test and end a run of seven successive Test defeats. After this fairly promising start, he was picked for a second successive Test at
Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
. Lathwell was dismissed third ball in the first innings, and made a painstaking 25 in the second innings, whilst batting to save the game. England lost this Test heavily, confirming a third successive defeat in an
Ashes Ashes may refer to: * Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), ...
series. According to
ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...
even Lathwell's mother conceded he had been picked for Test cricket too soon, and he was then dropped, and although Lathwell was picked for another England A tour to South Africa that winter, he was not as successful, undergoing a "sorry run of form". He never played for the national team again, despite this early promise, and retired from cricket in 2001, citing it as a strain.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lathwell, Mark 1971 births Living people England Test cricketers Somerset cricketers English cricketers People from Bletchley Cricketers from Buckinghamshire