Butcher in golden spell

Eighteen months ago Surrey's Mark Butcher was at the end of his tether, a top-class batsman ready to turn his back on the game of cricket he loved.

Today he has the steel which gives England's batting its cutting edge.

When it comes to scoring runs he is the current King Midas of Test cricket, having scored 105 in England's first Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's and 94 in the second at Edgbaston.

On Friday he did it again, shrugging off a Manchester rain delay which washed out the second morning and ending up with 123 in the third and final Test against the Sri Lankans.

But this latest century merely represents half time. After Sri Lanka have been and gone, there will be a second home series of the summer against India.

In between, though, Butcher will have surgery to cure a knee problem before resuming on a rich vein of form which has generated more than 1,150 runs at an average of 50 since returning to the fold against Australia last summer.

But his form in the last month is his most prolific in a Test career that began against Australia in 1997 and has since seen him amass some 2,500 runs in 41 matches.

It is in sharp contrast to the slump which took place towards the end of 2000.

Marital problems and a dip in form brought him, by his own admission, to the point of leaving Surrey and even to the brink of retirement from the game.

But he refused to give in to the pressures. Instead he worked through the winter at remodelling his game with the help of his father Alan, who opened for England in one Test.

All the hard graft paid off and Butcher, who will be 30 in August, was recalled for last year's Ashes amid an injury crisis.

Although he had gone 25 innings without scoring 50, he was firmly back in the selectors' thoughts.

The left-hander even took his bowling Test best 4-42, including a spell of 3-0, with his right-arm medium pace.

But the glory was yet to come. He hit an England top score of 83 in the second Test and in the fourth played "the innings of my life", making 173 not out in England's 315-4 on the final day to score their only win with Butcher man of the series.

That ensured selection for the winter tours to India and New Zealand and his Test career was back on track again.

With Friday's century, the Butcher career has safely come full circle.

Mail Cricket Editor