Relive the unforgettable moments of Mark Butcher's Ashes memories! From his remarkable innings to his decisive performances, Mark Butcher's contributions to the Ashes series have left a lasting legacy in cricket history. In this video, we revisit his iconic moments, focusing on his incredible 173* in the 2001 Ashes series that stunned Australia. Watch as we break down the skills, strategy, and emotions behind one of the greatest innings in the history of the Ashes. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more classic cricket moments!"
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00:00Ashes memories. I guess I had a slight inkling of the rivalry from the late 70s. Botham's
00:13Ashes obviously in 81 was the catalyst for making that contest go down in absolute folklore,
00:23but I always realised that there was something extremely special about the rivalry between
00:27England and Australia. Something that I always wanted to be involved in, I guess. I met up
00:34with people like Dennis Lilley and Geoff Thompson here at the Oval when they were touring, I
00:40think it might have been the 81 Ashes, they played against Surrey here. Had lunch with
00:44them up in the old, the gods here at the Oval when my dad was playing. So it was kind of,
00:51you understood that there was something special about that contest and hoped that someday
00:56you might be part of it. With your dad as a professional cricketer, who obviously would
00:59have had ambitions and did have ambitions to play for England, did he sort of stoke
01:03the fire of the Ashes, my boy, is what it's all about? Not that I can remember, but I
01:09don't think he needed to really. I'd had a bat in my hand from the age of two. I knew
01:19the names of virtually all of the county players up and down the circuit from about the age
01:24of five or six. I was kind of obsessed anyway. And I guess the peak of the obsession ended
01:31up being the Ashes, particularly after 81. But yeah, I didn't need any encouragement.
01:37And when you were in the bat garden with Brother Gary, who were you if it was an Ashes contest?
01:42I presume you said, I'm England. Yeah, England, definitely, as the older brother. But yeah,
01:49Gower with the bat and Botham and Willis with the ball. Used to fancy myself doing
01:55the half-decent side-on beefy action. And the Willis one was easy, wasn't it? You just
01:59had to waggle your arm behind your back. Well, when it came to playing professional cricket,
02:05your major debut in Test cricket against Australia, 97. What do you remember of the call-up to
02:11start with? This is a dream come true? Yeah, it was on the back of a pretty successful
02:19A-Tour, England A-Tour. We travelled down under in the winter of 1996. Adam Holyoake
02:26was captain of that team. We won, I think we won five out of the six games that we played.
02:31I averaged 50 on the trip. So after that A-Trip, I felt that I had a decent shout of being
02:38selected. And that's how it turned out in the sort of middle of the summer. Unfortunately,
02:43I wasn't in great nick, actually. I'd sort of come back from the trip and having played
02:47really well and then sort of started off in relatively mediocre fashion for Surrey
02:52in the beginning of that summer, except there was a Champion County match being played against
02:58the MCC. I was playing for the MCC and I made 100 in that game. Freezing cold in April.
03:04Nobody could stop the ball, even if they wanted to. Their hands were like ice blocks. And
03:07I think that pretty much made my name at the top of the list when it came to the Ashes
03:13series starting. So what do you remember about hearing that you were called up for a Test
03:16debut against Australia? Was it on the radio? Did you get a phone call? How was it in those
03:21days? I think I got a phone call. I mean, the euphoria of being picked has kind of overridden
03:27the memory of how it happened. But I do remember we threw a bit of a party. There was a lovely
03:34place with a beer garden down on the King's Road. We kind of invited everybody we knew
03:37to come have a drink, celebrate the fact that I'd been picked in the side. And sort of looking
03:43back on it, these days the being picked part was very much just the beginning of the journey.
03:50But it kind of felt a little bit then as though the mountain had been climbed and it was something
03:54to be shouted from the rooftops, never mind the small matter of having to play a Test
03:59match and score a few runs. So maybe that's an epitaph for my career. So you went to Edgbaston
04:07for your first Test match. It's 1997. Australia are not in the greatest of nick. And England
04:12win that first Test match. Your debut was marked, I noticed, by Out for 8, nicked off.
04:19But of course it was the Hussein and Thorpe show. Yes, it was. I mean, it was a stunning
04:25Test match in many ways. Obviously, my first memory is walking out there with Athers to
04:31bat. And just this rush of adrenaline that was caused by the noise. I mean, obviously
04:37I'd played a reasonable amount of Canada cricket up until that point. But I'd encountered
04:44nothing like the roar that was coming off from the holly stand, you know, the old corrugated
04:48roof, bouncing this noise out across the ground. And suddenly I was like, wow, this is, you
04:53know, I told myself that this was going to be a game of bat and ball. You just watch
04:56the ball. It's no different who's playing, who's bowling it, et cetera, et cetera. Didn't
05:00quite factor in, you know, the passion and the noise and the difference that that made.
05:05So it was pretty nerve-wracking going out there taking guard. I think I took first ball
05:09as well. I'm pretty sure that in the times that Athers and I opened together for England,
05:15I always took first ball, really, because I just didn't want to be stood at the other
05:18end getting even more nervous than I was to begin with.
05:21But I think I'm right in saying that you'd actually fielded first, because you'd bundled
05:24them out quite cheaply, hadn't you? So your initial Test match action is as a fielder
05:29and Australia collapsing in a heap.
05:31Indeed, the noise was deafening. The atmosphere was incredible. And I suppose, you know, that
05:36feeling that, ah, well, this is a doddle. You know, how difficult can it be? We've just
05:40bowled the mighty Australians out for about 110. I think Warnie slapped a few to get them
05:45up above 100. And then it was, you know, my turn to come out and face the music.
05:49And as I said, the feeling of, um, had a bit of a chance to experience the kind of the
05:57atmosphere of it. But again, it was completely different when you're walking out there and
06:01all eyes were on you to go out and do your job as a bat.
06:04And what about playing against Australia? Did you suddenly sort of feel an intensity
06:08that you hadn't had necessarily for Surrey against Glamorgan or something like that?
06:11I mean, was it different suddenly having them, you know, the McGraths of this world running
06:15in at you?
06:16Well, no, not really, because I, one of my, I think one of my strengths as a, as a player
06:21was I never really was that bothered about who, about who you were playing against. I
06:25hadn't really factored in the reputations of this team. Um, and perhaps that was naive.
06:30Perhaps I should have done. Um, but no, I think that more to the point was the fact
06:35that there was a test match there to be won, um, because, because we got so far in front
06:40having bowled them out for a hundred. Um, and so the, the, the, the focus kind of turns
06:44towards the, the, the way that you're going to try and go, go about building a lead to
06:48try and win the game.
06:49That was about, I think it was the only thing I could think of. I got out. Um, I think Michael
06:54Kasper that's Nick, Nick Neal outside of stump, not the first time, not the last time. And,
06:58um, and then it was a chance to sit back and watch Nasser and Thorpey play, play the
07:02two of the, two of the great ashes in each of the great partnership between the pair
07:06of them. And again, it was kind of like, well, this is easy. I don't know what all the fuss
07:10is about these guys. We're smashing them all over the place.
07:13So you won that test match. You're one up. And the feeling in the country was, I remember
07:18everybody was singing that football anthem, but it was crickets coming home. Yeah. Ashes
07:23coming home and we were front page of some of the tabloids, the spice boys, all this
07:28kind of, I mean, it was just absolute mayhem. Um, and it's only an ashes series that can
07:34do that, isn't it? Absolutely. And I think, you know, sort of throwing things forward
07:39a little bit, this, this was only sort of like the beginning of our run of losses. Okay.
07:43It'd been three or four series up until, until that point, but already sort of people, people
07:47were kind of agitated and anxious that we would turn this round, you know, little did
07:52they know it was going to be another, what was it? Another eight years or nine years
07:55on from then another three or four series from there on in. So, yeah, I mean, people
07:59were really excited to see England do well. Um, you know, they were starved of that throughout
08:04most of that period. From that test match, you went to Lords where you got lucky with
08:09the weather, but suddenly you must've realized that the thought that off the Australians
08:14are a doddle just disappeared because you were bowled out for 77 and the great Glenn
08:20McGrath just continued his Lords love affair, eight for 38. You were one of the eight. Yeah,
08:24I think I got caught back pad, I think, popped forward and it just bounced up, ballooned
08:29up to, to short leg. Um, yeah, I mean the bubble was burst pretty quickly, wasn't it?
08:34The other thing about that test match I remember was I, I made no runs again in the first inning,
08:38so that's three failures on the trot, um, which was basically a sacking offence back
08:43in, in the nineties. Um, walking out to bat on that, what turned out to be the final day
08:47of the test match, pretty much with the, with my career or the axe hanging over me.
08:51Um, and, and Mark Taylor of all people dropped me on one, I think, at first slip. Um, never
08:56dropped a catch and this, this ball seemed to just turn over in the air and dip on him
09:00and he hit him on the, on the wrist and, and dropped to the floor. After that, I think
09:04I made 80, 81 or 87 or something and played pretty well. Gutted not to have made a, made
09:09a hundred, got a bit giddy against Warney and got bowled through the gate. Um, but that
09:13was kind of like, okay, I'm now, I'm in the game, there's no, no, no worry that I'm not
09:18going to be banged in the next one.
09:19So you, you, so it was, it was the moment where you thought, actually, yeah, I can perform
09:21at this level?
09:22Yeah, it was a, it was a, a relief as much as anything. I don't, I always believed that
09:27I could, it was just kind of, you had to, you had to prove it and you were trying to
09:29prove it against, um, you know, one of the, one of the best teams, one of the best bowling
09:33attacks around.
09:34Let's just take a moment to, to assess the, the two standout bowlers of, of that generation
09:39that Australia had. First of all, Glenn McGrath, what made him, and you saw him up front on
09:46so many occasions with the new ball, what made him such a proposition?
09:50Um, well, I mean, the extraordinary accuracy to begin with, um, and people don't ever talk
09:57about Glenn being a quick bowler, but in the, particularly in the early stages or the early
10:02stages that I played against in 97, up until, uh, what, the, the, the away series in 98,
10:0999, he, he bowled quickly. There was a real sort of snap that he had in his wrist. Um,
10:14he bowled from very close to the stumps, um, and, and was able to generate sort of bounce
10:20and pace even from the flattest of surfaces. Uh, and just, just the very fact that he just
10:24never gave you anything, that was, he and, um, and Kirtley Ambrose were the two most
10:28difficult players to, to face with the new ball because they were just so accurate. Um,
10:33and if you made the slightest error, the slightest sort of misjudgment, and one of the great
10:37things that, about great line and length bowlers was, is they're always, always asking you
10:41to make the right call in terms of whether you're going forward or back, whether you're
10:44leaving the ball or playing it. Um, so you make, make the slightest mistake and you're
10:48out. Uh, so that was him. Um, and, and, but just, just on Glenn, did it, did it, was it
10:55a question of putting it in your mind? If, if he ties me down for an hour, I'll just
11:00play him out for an hour because I know that eventually he'll, he'll have to get stopped
11:04and then I'll get somebody else to have a go at it. Yeah, except, um, that he would
11:09generally speaking, if you, he would generally speaking have another guy at the other end
11:14in either Warne or, um, or, or Gillespie who was doing the same thing. You know, you can't,
11:20it doesn't matter how, how, how much you're thinking yourself, right, I need to be patient
11:24here. You've got to move the scoreboard. You have to. Because if you don't, then the
11:27pressure is just building and building and building and, and the score goes nowhere and
11:31eventually you're going to make an error. So you've got to, you've got to try and put
11:34something back on, um, bowlers like that. Uh, and that wasn't always very easy. You
11:39know, the, the, the problem I guess was that if you, if you kind of didn't get away to
11:43a half decent start and you found yourself seventh, eighth over with two on the board,
11:48you know, you're starting to get a little bit anxious. And also, of course, if you're
11:51opening with Atherton, you, you're one down fairly quick. My partner wasn't around for
11:58very long. So in terms of any, any words of wisdom that he could offer, um, there wasn't
12:04a great deal of help coming back from that side. So it's very unfair on my, it is extremely
12:09unfair, but funny. Uh, let's, let's talk about Shane because I mean, he was ultimately the,
12:16with Glenn, I guess the difference between the two sides, wasn't it? That you always
12:20knew that whatever, whatever you bowled them out for with those in the, in the Australian
12:24armoury, you were up against it. Yeah. I think if you, if you look at the sort of like the,
12:30the failures through the nineties, England actually came closest to beating that Australian
12:34side in the sort of 97, um, series at home and then the away series in 98, 99. Now, uh,
12:41during both of those series, there were periods where, where one or the other of those bowlers
12:45wasn't playing, was, was unavailable. So you got some sort of a sense as to how Australia
12:50may have been, had they not had both of those guys at the same time. Um, they, they, you
12:56know, as a, as a pair, they did everything. They had wicket taking capability. They tied
13:00you down. They didn't allow the scoreboard to tick over. They had enormous amounts of
13:04patience and because, because of Warren being a, you know, a spin bowler, stamina, they
13:09could bowl for long, long periods of time, um, ramping up the pressure on you. Uh, and
13:13they were, they were kind of the most complete, um, test of your technique and temperament
13:19together. You know, you had to be able to play spin. You had to be able to play pace.
13:23You had to know when to leave. You had to be able to attack when you could. Um, and
13:27so, you know, if you, if you were not on top of your game, if the team was behind in, in
13:31matches, which often you were against Australia, you were really, really up against it. There
13:36was no hiding place for you. Um, was there a, over a five test series? Was it, was also
13:41the sort of cumulative wear and tear of knowing that they're always at you, that there is
13:46nothing easy and if you get through McGrath, you know that Warren's coming. Yeah, I mean
13:52that there was a, there was a sort of awareness about it. That, that series in 97 was a six
13:57match series. Um, you know, there, there was a, I think the fourth test was at, at Trent
14:03Bridge, um, then Headingley, then, then the Oval, you know, so there was a, that's a lot
14:07of days cricket against the best in the world. And as I said, you know, there were times
14:11when they annihilated us, but there were also times when, um, you know, when, when
14:15we were able to kind of fight our own corner, um, that wasn't so. As things went on, you'd
14:21imagine as Warren and McGrath got, got older, they'd become less effective, but somehow
14:25the hold that they had over, um, successive England teams and batting lineups could have
14:29got worse rather than better. Did you feel they had a hold over you? I mean, who was
14:32the bowler that you used to wake up in the middle of the night gibbering about? Well,
14:36I mean, you know, Warren was, was more difficult for me. I mean, I was, you know, I had to,
14:41I had to work twice as hard, um, on my, on my game against spin, um, right the way through
14:46my career. It wasn't something that would, that came naturally. Did you work out a way
14:50to play him? Well, I, I think, I didn't think I played him that badly. I, I played, you
14:54know, if Mike Warren bowled at me throughout my entire career for Australia, that might
14:57have been a different statement. He had some kind of mesmerising effect on me. But, um,
15:02you know, in terms of, what did he get, 800-odd test wickets? Um, you know, he got a lot of
15:07people out. He made a lot of people look very silly. And I had, I had matches and, and,
15:11and periods of time against him where I, where I knew what I was doing, where I had
15:14things under control. And other times he just made you look like a bug. Um, you know, but
15:19he did that to everybody. So it's not so bad. That 97 series was, was, was lost 3-2. Was,
15:25was there a feeling at the end of it, you won a spectacular game here at the Oval where
15:28you defended a very low score. But as you sort of packed the kit away, did you think
15:33that, that was a 3-2, that was a missed opportunity? It was. I mean, simply because having got
15:41to the third Test match at Old Trafford, still one up, um, you know, after the, the,
15:46the collapse at Lord's in the first innings. Um, we had a massive opportunity to, to, to
15:51win that Test match. Um, I think Mark Clegg won the toss and, and batted first under Leaden's
15:56guys on a green pitch. Um, and we had Australia down 3 or 4 for, for, for 40 or 50, I think.
16:05Um, and Mark Waugh then, sorry, Steve Waugh came and made two hundreds in the match. Um,
16:11you know, on a pitch that no one else really had any sort of mastery over. He was out first
16:15ball as far as I'm concerned. Full toss from Andy Caddick that hit him right in the middle
16:18of the shin in front of the lot, given not out. And from then on he didn't give another
16:22chance. So that was, it was a huge, huge opportunity for us to have gone 2-0 up in, in that series.