Oh Mark. I know how good you were. I saw it at the Oval in 2007 for Surrey. It was a racial salad of an innings, a little bit of something from each of your heritages. You had the high left elbow English forward defensive. The subcontinental flick through midwicket from off stump. The Calypso smash over cover when you got a wide one. The Viv Richards 'don't bowl there to me' pull for six. God, it was beautiful.
Not that there's much evidence of that kind of stuff on YouTube. I expect most people, like me, turned the telly off when they saw you walking out for England with that worried look on your face.
"When I was 18 cricket was a game. I used to go in and try and hit Malcolm Marshall over the top. [He did so successfully, too.] Then it became a job as I became more seasoned and expected to perform. People look to you to produce. From the age of 21 I started every season thinking if I play well, I could play Test cricket. I put pressure on myself. But there were a lot of people with one Test cap. The axe could fall at any time. It was really tough. More recently I've realised I hadn't enjoyed the game as much as I would have liked and so I've been determined to enjoy the game more."
You know what Matthew Maynard, batting coach, told KP at lunch at the Oval in 2005? Just go out there and play your natural game. Ashes on the line, team struggling for a draw against the best team in the world, and he gives him a license.
It could - no, it should - have been you he said that to, old boy. You were just a couple of years too early.
Not that there's much evidence of that kind of stuff on YouTube. I expect most people, like me, turned the telly off when they saw you walking out for England with that worried look on your face.
"When I was 18 cricket was a game. I used to go in and try and hit Malcolm Marshall over the top. [He did so successfully, too.] Then it became a job as I became more seasoned and expected to perform. People look to you to produce. From the age of 21 I started every season thinking if I play well, I could play Test cricket. I put pressure on myself. But there were a lot of people with one Test cap. The axe could fall at any time. It was really tough. More recently I've realised I hadn't enjoyed the game as much as I would have liked and so I've been determined to enjoy the game more."
You know what Matthew Maynard, batting coach, told KP at lunch at the Oval in 2005? Just go out there and play your natural game. Ashes on the line, team struggling for a draw against the best team in the world, and he gives him a license.
It could - no, it should - have been you he said that to, old boy. You were just a couple of years too early.
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