Mark William Patterson (born 2 February 1974) is a former Northern Irish

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. Patterson was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

who bowls right-arm

fast-medium 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 ...

. He was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Northern Ireland. Patterson made his

List A 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 ...

debut for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in the

1995 Benson & Hedges Cup The 1995 Benson & Hedges Cup was the twenty-fourth edition of cricket's Benson & Hedges Cup. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 23 April and 15 July 1995. It had been agreed before the close of the ...

. He made eight further List A appearances for Ireland, the last of which came against

in the

1996 NatWest Trophy The 1996 NatWest Trophy was the 16th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 25 June and 7 September 1996. The tournament was won by Lancashire County Cricket Club who defeated Essex Co ...

. Patterson took 14 wickets in List A cricket for Ireland, which came 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 34.57, with best figures of 3/48. While playing against

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. ...

in the 1996 Benson & Hedges Cup at

Woodvale Road Woodvale Road is a cricket ground in Eglinton, Northern Ireland. The home team of the ground is Eglinton Cricket Club who were founded in 1936. It has a capacity of 2,000. The ground has staged two first-class matches and three List A match ...

, he impressed enough for Surrey to invite him over to England for a trial. He made his debut for Surrey in August 1996 in a first-class match against South Africa A. On debut he took figures of 6/80, which were at the time the best bowling figures for a Surrey player on debut. He spent much of the next couple of seasons playing for the Surrey Second XI, as well as playing in the

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 ...

for the

Surrey Cricket Board The Surrey Cricket Board is the governing body for all recreational cricket in the historic county of Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey ha ...

. During this time he played for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

in the cricket tournament at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedent ...

, making a single List A appearance during it against

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

, claiming the wicket of Adrian Griffith as Barbados ran out winners by 176 runs. He later made his second and final first-class appearance for Surrey in the 1999 County Championship against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. In his two first-class matches, he claimed a total of 10 wickets at an average of 16.30. Patterson also made fifteen

ICC Trophy The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualifi ...

matches for Ireland between 1997 and 2001. In 2002, he joined

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, making his debut for the county in the MCCA Knockout Trophy 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 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 Bedfordshire from 2002 to 2005, making 22

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 ...

and nine MCCA Knockout Trophy appearances. He played his first List A match for the county in the 1st round of the

2003 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2003 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was an County cricket, English county cricket tournament, held between 29 August 2002 and 30 August 2003. The competition was won by Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Gloucestershire who beat Worcestersh ...

against

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, which Bedfordshire won, with Patterson following this up by playing in the 2nd round against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, which Bedfordshire also won. Both matches were played in 2002. His final List A appearance for Bedfordshire came against Sussex in the

2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was the 4th Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, an English county cricket tournament, held between 3 May and 3 September 2005. The competition was contested by all 18 first-class counties, as well as 10 minor c ...

. In his three List A appearances for the county, he took 5 wickets at an average of 22.00, with best figures of 3/39. His brother,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

, was also a first-class cricketer and played for Ireland.His son(Benji Patterson) is a world class fullback for st joseph's college and felixstowe rugby club.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Mark 1974 births Living people Cricketers from Belfast Surrey cricketers Cricketers at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for Northern Ireland Surrey Cricket Board cricketers Bedfordshire cricketers Irish cricketers