Mark Saxelby (4 January 1969 – 12 October 2000) was an 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. He was a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. He started his eleven-year cricketing career at

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 ...

, where he enjoyed a fair few successful seasons and consistently averaged in the 30s with the bat without making himself overly known or feared. However, he was soon off to

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

, who spotted him after an excellent century innings in the Sunday leagues. Despite being keen to keep both Mark and his brother Kevin Saxelby for as long as possible, he was to move to Durham and make 181 on his Championship debut for the team. However, a season after reaching 1000 runs for the first time, Saxelby was once again packing his bags and moving, after patchy form saw him down to number five in the batting lineup. After some years in minor league cricket, and a 1996 MCC Trophy win for

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, Saxelby was signed by

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in 2000 and only appeared for them after an injury to

Mathew Dowman Mathew Peter Dowman (born 10 May 1974) is a retired English cricketer. Born in Grantham, Dowman was a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler. Having started his career at Under-19 level, and including at this stage in his caree ...

left his teammate unable to play. At the age of 31, Saxelby committed suicide by ingesting weedkiller; he was suffering from depression.

References

External links

Mark Saxelby
at Cricket Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Saxelby, Mark 1969 births 2000 suicides English cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Durham cricketers Derbyshire cricketers Cheshire cricketers Nottinghamshire Cricket Board cricketers Cornwall cricketers Suicides by poison Suicides in England