A brutal left-handed opening batsman, Marcus Trecothick was one of the finest opening batsman to play for England, described as a left-handed Gooch by Nasser Hussain but with strokeplay just as reminiscent of David Gower. He has the ability to bully bowling attacks and was a key factor in England's change in fortunes and spearheaded a no-holds-barred approach against Australia in the Ashes win of 2005. A stress-related illness saw his international career cut short but he continues to entertain for Somerset and has the ambition to play until he is 40.

There is something biblical about 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, genial, and at ease on the big stage, Trecothick's 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 made 431 runs against Australia, 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 Cup. 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 candid autobiography, Coming Back to Me, was published in 2008, and in 2009 he enjoyed one of his most prolific seasons yet, scoring nearly 3,000 runs for Somerset in all competitions. He was named captain following Justin Langer's decision not to return for 2010 and even overcame his reservations to take part in the county's Champions League campaign in India that October, although he flew home after the group stages.

Already enshrined in Somerset folklore, with a stand named in his honour, he nearly delivered the ultimate prize in 2010. His 1,397 runs at 58.20 helped Somerset enter the final day of the season knowing victory at Durham would be enough to win them their maiden County Championship. But time ran out on Somerset and Nottinghamshire achieved the bonus point they needed with three wickets after tea to snatch the title. Seemingly getting better with age, Trescothick plundered 1,673 runs in 2011 at a career-best season's average of 79.66. He also led Somerset to the finals of both the Friends Life t20 and Cyldesdale Bank 40, only to lose both. A year later, injury and poor weather resulted in a less-than-prolific season but, undeterred by his advancing years, Trescothick signed a new three year deal with Somerset in November 2012 but failed to score a century in any competition in 2013 - the first time in his career he has gone through a season without a three figure score.
Tim de Lisle and ESPNcricinfo staff