Evergreen Tresco is still nifty at fifty
Richard Latham watches a Somerset legend roll back the years and claim another county record
Marcus Trescothick has total recall of the first run he ever scored for Somerset back in 1993. Twenty-four seasons later the 41-year-old former England opener passed 25,000 in the drawn County Championship with Warwickshire, ruined by rain over the first two days.
Not content with that, Trescothick went on to his 50th first class century for his beloved Somerset, beating the club record 49, which he had previously shared with Harold Gimblett.
No cricketer takes more pride in his achievements. At the end of day three when his 41 not out had taken him to 25,012 first class runs, the man whose international career was so cruelly cut short by a stress-related illness, was in reflective mood.
“I remember my first run clearly,” he said. “It was against Lancashire here in ’93 when I scored one and three on my first class debut.
“Wasim Akram and Phil deFreitas were bowling, My first run was down to third-man. And that’s probably where most of the others have come since!
“I knew when I went in today that I needed 29 to reach 25,000, One of the office staff mentioned it to me and it had been on my mind for a couple of weeks.”
That Lancashire game, which began Trescothick’s illustrious career, famously ended in two days, with Andy Caddick bowling Somerset to victory.
Only the Colin Atkinson Pavilion of the buildings at the County Ground, Taunton, back then has survived to the present day.
“There are various parts of the ground that I actually knocked down myself with a bulldozer,” smiled Trescothick, who now regularly belts balls towards the stand named in his honour.
“Other parts I have painted at one time or another. The ground has changed hugely since my debut.”
Trescothick had to wait until day four against Warwickshire to reach a hundred that will live long in his memory.
Having added an invaluable 46 not out in the second innings to assure Somerset of a draw after following-on, he again found himself facing the media.
“The Gimblett record has been talked about for so long,” he said.
“It’s a relief to have finally got there. But I still need getting on for 3,000 more runs to beat his aggregate for Somerset – and that looks a very long way off!”