Mark Frost (born 21 October 1962) is a former English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. Frost was a right-handed

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

who bowled right-arm

medium-fast Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

. His main role in a team was a bowler. He was born at

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

, Essex.

Early career and Surrey

He attended

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

from 1981 to 1984, while studying there he played for Durham University Cricket Club. Frost made his debut in

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

for

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

in the 1984

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

against

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. He next appeared in county cricket in 1987, once again representing Staffordshire in the Minor Counties Championship, making five appearances in that season. Following trial for several first-class counties, Frost was signed by

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

for the 1988 season, making his first-class debut against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

in that same season. Frost made three further first-class appearances in 1988, and followed this up by making nine more in 1989. In thirteen first-class matches for Surrey, Frost took 25 wickets at an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 40.20, with best figures of 5/40. These figures were his only

five wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman. Taking ...

for the county and came against

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

in 1989. Despite being successful in Second XI cricket for Surrey, Frost found his first team opportunities limited and left the county at the end of the 1989 season.

Glamorgan and later career

He joined

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

county

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

for the 1990 season, making his debut for the county in a first-class match against

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Becoming a regular feature in the Glamorgan starting line-up in his first season, he played 21 first-class matches, taking 59 wickets at an average of 34.69, with two five wicket hauls and best figures of 5/40 against

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, in a match in which he also took figures of 5/42. His performance helped Glamorgan to a 145 run victory. He ended his maiden season with the county as its second leading wicket-taker in the County Championship, with 56, behind fellow opening bowler Steve Watkin. It was in this season that he made his debut in

List A cricket List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

against Leicestershire in the

1990 Refuge Assurance League The 1990 Refuge Assurance League was the twenty-second competing of what was generally known as the Sunday League. The competition was won for the first time by Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Standings Batting averages Bowling averages ...

. Frost made 22 List A appearances in that season, taking 28 wickets at an average of 27.78, with best figures of 4/25. Prior to the

1991 season File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...

, Frost toured

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

with Glamorgan, playing a single first-class and List A match against the Zimbabwe national team (which was still a year away from

Test status Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last f ...

). Frost made twenty first-class appearances in the 1991 English season, taking 65 wickets at an average of 28.73. In what was his most successful season in first-class cricket, he took just the one five wicket haul, against Gloucestershire, with figures of 7/99. He ended the season as Glamorgan's second leading wicket-taker in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

, with 61, though was once again behind Watkin. In List A cricket, Frost made seventeen appearances in that season, taking 21 wickets at an average of 31.95, with best figures of 3/35. In the following season he fell out of favour, making just eight first-class appearances for Glamorgan, in which he took 13 wickets at an expensive average of 64.07, with best figures of 3/100. For the first time in his career, he made more appearances in List A cricket in a season than he did in first-class cricket, making twelve limited-overs appearances in 1992, during which he took 13 wickets at an average of 30.69, with best figures of 4/26. In the

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, he featured in just two first-class matches, both in the

, against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. He also featured just once in List A cricket in this season, against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

in the

1993 AXA Equity & Law League The 1993 AXA Equity & Law League was the twenty-fifth competing of English cricket's Sunday League. The competition was won for the first time by Glamorgan County Cricket Club. The season The season's competition had a number of changes. Thi ...

. With opportunities now limited at Glamorgan, he left the county at the end of the 1993 season. During his four seasons playing for Glamorgan, he made 51 first-class appearances, taking 144 wickets at an average of 34.72. In List A cricket, he made 55 appearances, taking 66 wickets at an average of 29.57. A poor batsman, in his entire first-class career, he scored just 106 runs at a

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of 3.21, with a high score of just 12.

Post-Glamorgan

He briefly played

Minor counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

cricket for Wales Minor Counties in 1994, making five Minor Counties Championship appearances, and a single

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

appearance against his former county, Staffordshire. He also made a single List A appearance, his last, for the team in the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class cricket, first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scott ...

against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

, though went wicketless in the match, and was dismissed one final time for a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form t ...

John Emburey John Ernest Emburey (born 20 August 1952) is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Western Province, Berkshire and England. According to cricket writer Colin Bateman, Emburey's participation in two So ...

. Following his retirement from cricket, he worked the Sports Council for Wales, before serving as the director of cricket for the

Cricket Board of Wales Cricket Wales ( cy, Criced Cymru) is the national governing body of cricket in Wales. It is an umbrella partnership body comprising the Welsh Cricket Association, Glamorgan County Cricket Club, Wales National County Cricket Club, the Welsh Sch ...

, a role he held from 1999 to 2004. He left the role in 2004 and was succeeded by Geoff Holmes in that capacity. In January 2005, he rejoined the Sports Council for Wales. Frost is also an author, writing under the pen name of Jack Emson, due to there being another author of the same name. In 2012, Frost released his first book, a children's novel entitled ''The Four''. Since then he has written two more books in the trilogy and in 2018 produced a novella 'Dewi and the Cricket Dragon' based on a primary school visit to Glamorgan Cricket's Stadium in Cardiff. He is married to Jan and has four children.

References

External links

Mark Frost
at

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Mark Frost
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Mark 1962 births Living people People from Barking, London Sportspeople from the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Alumni of Grey College, Durham English cricketers Staffordshire cricketers Surrey cricketers Glamorgan cricketers Wales National County cricketers English cricket administrators English children's writers Recipients of the British Empire Medal Cricketers from Greater London