Martin Paul Bicknell (born 14 January 1969) 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. He played in four Test matches, with the last two, against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 2003, coming ten years after the first two in the 1993 Ashes series. England had played 114 matches between his appearances, a record. He was considered most unlucky to be constantly overlooked for selection in home Test matches when constantly proving himself a prolific wicket taker in county cricket. He was a very effective medium-fast swing and seam bowler who reached one thousand first-class

wickets In cricket, the term wicket has several meanings: * It is one of the two sets of three stumps and two bails at either end of the pitch. The fielding team's players can hit the wicket with the ball in a number of ways to get a batsman out. * ...

for his county,

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 2005, having achieved the milestone in all first-class matches the previous year. In 2000 he had match figures of 16-119 for Surrey 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 ...

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, the second best match figures ever returned for the county. His figures in the second innings were 9-47. His best innings figures were 9-45, 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 ...

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

in 1988. He was also an increasingly useful tail-end batsman, verging on

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

status, with three first-class centuries to his name and 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 24.87. His brother

Darren Bicknell Darren John Bicknell (born 24 June 1967) is an English former cricketer. He is a left-handed batsman and a slow left-arm bowler. Born in Guildford, Darren is the brother of former England seam bowler Martin Bicknell. However, he struggled to h ...

was a sound county batsman formerly with Surrey and finishing his career with

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 ...

. Bicknell lives in

Churt Churt is a village and civil parish in the borough of Waverley in Surrey, England, about south of the town of Farnham on the A287 road towards Hindhead. A clustered settlement is set in areas acting as its green buffers, which include the ...

, Farnham, He is married to Sarah, and has four children: Ellie, Charlotte, Mia-May and Millie-Coco. Bicknell was a

Wisden Cricketer of the Year The ''Wisden'' Cricketers of the Year are cricketers selected for the honour by the annual publication ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', based primarily on their "influence on the previous English season". The award began in 1889 with the naming ...

in 2001. He made his first-class debut in 1986. Having initially intended to cease playing at the end of the 2006 season, he was struck by a series of niggling injuries which forced him to announce an earlier retirement from first-class cricket on 9 August 2006, moving on to take up a post at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

as the Master in Charge of Cricket. His autobiography, ''Bickers''. was published in 2008.Entry for ''Bickers'' on Amazon
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References

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bicknell, Martin 1969 births Living people England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Sportspeople from Guildford Surrey cricketers Wisden Cricketers of the Year Test and County Cricket Board Under-25s XI cricketers First-Class Counties Select XI cricketers