Mark Wallace

Mark Alexander Wallace (born 19 November 1981 in Abergavenny) is a Welsh cricketer; a left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper.

Wallace made his second XI debut for Glamorgan at the age of just 15, and by 1998 he was in the England U-19 team that played Pakistan, as well as accompanying them to New Zealand the following winter and playing three one-day games against Australia U-19s in the summer of 1999, a year in which he won the NBC Denis Compton Award.

In September 1999, he made his bow in first-class cricket, appearing in the County Championship game against Somerset at the age of 17 years and 287 days - thus making him Glamorgan's youngest ever Championship wicket-keeper. Wallace took five catches in the match, and scored 28 from number nine in the first innings, and this was enough for him to keep his county place for the rest of the season. In an innings victory over Yorkshire, he made his first half-century: 64 not out, again batting at number nine.

After appearing in the U-19 World Cup in the winter, Wallace played no first-team county cricket for the first half of the season, concentrating on his A-Levels, but in August was appointed captain of the U-19s for a one-day series against Sri Lanka, though was unable to take up his appointment because of an injury to his hand. He did, however, recover in time to replace the (also injured) Adrian Shaw for Glamorgan near the end of the season.

After another U-19 tour, this time to India, Wallace established himself during the 2001 season as his county's first-choice wicket-keeper, and was selected to visit Australia with the ECB National Academy squad, an honour he repeated the following winter. 2002 saw him make his maiden first-class century when he hit an unbeaten 106 in Glamorgan's pipe-opener against Derbyshire, albeit in a losing cause. Wallace finished 2002 with 61 dismissals in first-class and 27 in List A games, the latter helping his side to the Norwich Union League title.

The 2003 summer brought Wallace both his county cap and his greatest success with the bat, as he hit 856 first-class runs at 29.51 including 117 against Durham in August and 121 against the same opponents a month later; on the second occasion, Wallace opened the batting. However, he struggled in the one-day game, averaging a mere 10.50 in that form of cricket. In 2004 and 2005, Wallace maintained his place in the team, averaging in the mid-to-high twenties in both seasons, though his totals of both runs and dismissals declined slightly from the heights of 2003.

Club Cricket

2008

During 2008, Wallace played a handful of matches for Port Talbot Town in the South Wales Cricket Association when his Glamorgan commitments permitted, although he did not keep wicket in these games. This saw him link up again with former county colleagues Ian Thomas and Dan Cherry. He marked his debut in fine style making a match winning century at Llanelli, bringing up three figures with a six which also sealed a nine wicket victory. Another noted performance was his innings of 84 against a Pontarddulais side which included his county team mate James Harris. In all, Wallace played four matches scoring 204 runs at an average of 68.33.

2009

The left-hander continued his association with The New Mansel side into the 2009 season. After the disappointment of being dismissed by his Glamorgan colleague Robert Croft (on route to a match winning spell of 7/19 for Pontarddulais on 16 May), the first of three eye catching performances came at Ammanford on 20 June with an innings of 93 from only 75 balls. On 25 July, Wallace scored 116 from 126 balls with 14 fours and 3 sixes against Llangennech, an innings which was instrumental in Port Talbot's 109 run victory. Another match winning performance followed at The Gnoll on 15 August where Wallace smashed 88 from only 59 balls to engineer an eight wicket success against Neath. By the season's end, he had scored 382 runs in six innings at an average of 63.66 and an even more impressive strike rate of 111.04.

Personal life

He graduated from Staffordshire University with a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting in summer of 2008 ^[1]

External links

• Player Profile: Mark Wallace from Cricinfo
• Statistical summary from CricketArchive

References