Victor James Marks (born 25 June 1955) is an English sports journalist and former professional

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 str ...

er. An

off spin Off spin is a type of finger spin bowling in cricket. A bowler who uses this technique is called an off spinner. Off spinners are right-handed spin bowlers who use their fingers to spin the ball. Their normal delivery is an off break, which spi ...

bowler, Marks played in six Test matches and thirty four One Day Internationals for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His entire county cricket career was spent with

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_ ...

, spanning the period between 1975 and 1989. Marks also played for

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 th ...

whilst a student and had one season playing in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, winning the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

1986–87. After retiring as a player, Marks became a cricket journalist. He writes match reports and opinion pieces for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' newspapers, and frequently appears on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

's ''

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. It broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 LW ...

'' as a summariser.

Playing career

Marks was born on 25 June 1955 in Middle Chinnock, Somerset. He was educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the t ...

and

, for whom he played cricket between 1975 and 1978 (alongside

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

and Chris Tavaré, and opposite

Peter Roebuck Peter Michael Roebuck (6 March 195612 November 2011) was an English cricketer who later became an Australian newspaper columnist and radio commentator. A consistent county performer with over 25,000 runs, and "one of the better English openers ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

, subsequently Marks' captain at

). Marks captained Oxford University in 1976 and 1977. Marks made his first-class debut for

in the 1975 County Championship. Even in a Somerset side coming into a successful period, with high-profile players, notably

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

and Ian Botham, Marks at times stood out, especially in List A cricket. In 1982 he was

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

in the final as Somerset won the

Benson and Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Engla ...

, an achievement he repeated in 1983 as Somerset won the

NatWest Bank 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 counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

. Marks had made his debut for the national team in 1980, in an ODI against the West Indies. His

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

debut was in 1982 against Pakistan. In a series decider, Marks made two crucial interventions at tense stages, dismissing

Sikander Bakht Sikander Bakht (24 August 1918 – 23 February 2004) was an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who served as the 15th governor of Kerala from 2002 until his death. He was elected as the Vice President of the BJP, ...

and joining Bob Taylor in the partnership that clinched victory. However, the dismissal of Sikander was contested, and inadvertantly helped to trigger a sequence which led to the stand off between Shakoor Rana and

Mike Gatting Michael William Gatting (born 6 June 1957) is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Middlesex (1975–1998; captain 1983–1997) and for England from 1977 to 1995, captaining the national side in twenty-three Test ma ...

five years later. He went on to play six Test matches, struggling a little to take wickets but adding useful late-order runs, especially in Pakistan in 1984. His strength in limited-over cricket made him an important member of the ODI squad during the 1980s, appearing thirty four times and taking forty four wickets at a bowling average of 25.79. His haul of five for 20 for England against New Zealand in 1984 was for sixteen years England's best bowling return in One Day Internationals; it remains the best one-day figures by an England

spin bowler Spin bowling is a bowling technique in cricket, in which the ball is delivered slowly but with the potential to deviate sharply after bouncing. The bowler is referred to as a spinner. Purpose The main aim of spin bowling is to bowl the cricket ...

. Marks was the first England bowler to take two ODI five-wicket hauls (having previously taken five wickets against Sri Lanka in 1983, during the Cricket world cup). This feat was subsequently emulated by the seam bowlers

Darren Gough Darren Gough (born 18 September 1970) is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's second highest wicket-taker in one-da ...

Mark Ealham Mark Alan Ealham (born 27 August 1969) is a former English cricketer, who played Test and One Day International cricket. He played domestic cricket for Kent County Cricket Club and Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club as an all-rounder. He r ...

and

Andrew Flintoff Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977) is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...

; the first spin bowler to equal Marks' record was

Adil Rashid Adil Usman Rashid (born 17 February 1988) is an English cricketer who plays for England in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, and previously played for the Test team. In domestic cricket, he represents Yo ...

in 2019. Marks had a distinguished first-class career between 1975 and 1989 for Somerset. He also played a season for

in the 1986–87 season, winning the

. In 342 first-class matches he took 859 wickets at 33.28, and scored 12,419 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 30.29. As a cricketer he was popular and well-liked; ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' editor, Matthew Engel, labelled him "a mild, nervy, self-deprecating farm boy with an Oxford degree and no enemies". This was an unusual distinction in the Somerset side of the 1980s, where three explosive personalities,

, Joel Garner and Ian Botham, had a dispute with captain

, which resulted in Somerset (under the influence from Roebuck and new club Secretary Tony Brown) opting not to renew Richards' and Garner's contracts in 1986, and Botham leaving the club in protest. The cricket correspondent Colin Bateman noted that "in typical self-deprecating style, Vic Marks entitled one of his books, ''Marks Out of XI''. He was probably out of the England XI slightly too often. While he was never a fashionable cricketer, he was a determined and highly effective off-spinner-cum-batsman whose Test figures stand comparison with those often picked ahead of him, such as

Geoff Miller Geoffrey Miller, (born 8 September 1952) is an English former cricketer, who played in 34 Test matches and 25 One Day Internationals for the England cricket team between 1976 and 1984. He played for Derbyshire from 1973 to 1986, captaining t ...

and Eddie Hemmings".

Journalism

After retiring as a professional cricketer, he turned his hand to journalism and broadcasting, and is now a regular summariser on ''

''. He writes regularly about cricket and occasionally rugby union for ''

'' newspaper as their Cricket Correspondent, and also for ''

''.List of Vic Marks articles

. Retrieved 30 July 2011. As of December 2022, Marks was serving as a director at Somerset CCC, having previously held the position of Chairman of the Cricket Committee.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Marks, Vic 1955 births Living people People educated at Blundell's School Alumni of St John's College, Oxford English cricket commentators England One Day International cricketers England Test cricketers English cricketers Oxford University cricketers Somerset cricket captains People from South Somerset (district) Western Australia cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Devon cricketers Cricket historians and writers English male journalists Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers British Universities cricketers Young England cricketers