Marcus Trecothick was brought on as a substitute for the last few minutes of the title clash of the County Championship on Thursday. Like he has done innumerable times in the last 27 years, Trescothick ambled over to the slip cordon and went down on his knees. Marcus Trecothick was brought on as a substitute for the last few minutes of the title clash of the County Championship on Thursday. Like he has done innumerable times in the last 27 years, Trescothick ambled over to the slip cordon and went down on his knees.

Marcus Trescothick – one of the legends of the sport of cricket, not only for the runs he amassed but also because of the attention he brought to the issue of mental health of cricketers by retiring from international cricket at his peak – walked into the pavilion for one last time in the final match of the County Championship season on Thursday.

Essex won the title after the final against Somerset ended in a draw, with Alastair Cook seeing Essex home, but a lot of the attention even after the match was on Somerset’s Trescothick, who many remember as the England opening partner Cook could have had for so many more years than he did.

Somerset, who were 12 points behind leaders Essex before the final game of the season, needed to win while the visitors only needed a draw to seal the title.

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Trescothick was not playing in the match, but was brought on as a substitute fielder for the last 15 minutes of play on the final day. Earlier in the day, he was seen on commentary duty, in his Somerset whites.

Like he has done uncountable times since making his debut in 1993, Trescothick ran over to the slip cordon and went down on his knees. The crowd gave him a fitting standing ovation – the thrill of the Essex chase being overshadowed by the poetic significance of Trescothick taking his knees at slip one last time.

👏 Somerset’s Marcus Trescothick was given a fitting heroes reception as his incredible career for both club and country came to an end.pic.twitter.com/mpmufZzKjg — Sporting Life (@SportingLife) September 26, 2019

Trescothick was also seen having a word with Cook, the batsman trying to take Essex home – perhaps telling him what a fitting end to his career it would be if he caught Cook at slip.

Needing to take 10 wickets with time running out, Somerset forfeited their second innings for another crack at Essex’s batsmen, who needed 63 to win the match. However, Cook stood strong once again with an unbeaten 30 to deny Somerset a fairytale ending. With less than 10 minutes left in the day’s play, the two teams agreed to end the match as a draw as Essex won the title by 11 points.

Trescothick was given a guard of honour at the end of the match and it was him who led the teams off the field.

Emotional scenes as Marcus Trescothick leaves field for last time as @EssexCricket beat @SomersetCCC to win the county championship. pic.twitter.com/WfWYBw6fU2 — Andy Lines (@andylines) September 26, 2019

Trescothick has played for Somerset for 27 years. Trescothick, 43, played 76 Tests for England between 2000 and 2006 and scored 5,825 runs at an average of 43.79. He announced international retirement in 2008 because of a stress-related illness.

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