A solid opening batsman who hits the ball cleanly, Mark Chilton moved seamlessly from Manchester Grammar School, where Michael Atherton and John Crawley were pupils, to Durham University, where his mild medium pace helped them win the British Universities tournament in 1997. He made his first-team debut for Lancashire in the same year, aged 19, having previously captained their youth sides. He was capped in 2002 after scoring 761 runs at 27.17, and topped 1000 runs the following year. The only ever-present player in the troubled season of 2004, he was appointed Lancashire captain when, in October, Warren Hegg resigned. He led the club to promotion in the Championship in 2005 but has been unable to break Lancashire's run without silverware. In 2006 they were runners-up to Sussex in the C&G final and finished second to them in the Championship in successive seasons, the near miss in 2007 leaving Chilton in tears at The Oval. He struggled for runs, his form sliding each summer, and despite his popularity around Old Trafford stood down at the end of 2007 although remained a key batsman in a transitional team.
Andrew McGlashan