Mark Wallace is set to become the first player for 38 years to appear in 200 consecutive matches in the County Championship. The long-serving Glamorgan wicket-keeper will make his 200th successive appearance in the first-class competition when he appears for the Welsh county against Surrey at The Kia Oval on April 6th
In so doing, Mark will become the first county cricketer since 1976 to reach this landmark, emulating the achievements of Middlesex's Clive Radley who on July 10th that year played his 200th consecutive County Championship match for the London-based club against Yorkshire at Bradford.
Mark's outstanding sequence of appearances stretches back to June 13th, 2001 when he was a late call-up to replace the unwell Adrian Shaw behind the stumps in Glamorgan's match against Kent at The Mote in Maidstone.
Overall, Mark will be the 30th person in the history of Championship cricket to achieve this feat and he will be the first Glamorgan player to reach this milestone since Haydn Davies on July 31st, 1957 when the fellow member of the wicket-keeper's union appeared in the match against Gloucestershire at Bristol. However, Haydn had little to smile about when this match got underway as the home batsmen had a field day against the Welsh county's bowler, before the Gloucestershire attack dismissed the visitors for 178 and 83 as they romped to a 266-run victory.
Commenting on Mark's looming milestone, Hugh Morris, Glamorgan's Chief Executive and Director of Cricket said, It' will be a truly outstanding achievement by Mark to play in 200 consecutive County Championship matches for Glamorgan. It will also be a testament to his consistency behind the stumps, his skill levels and his fitness to become the first player in the country since 1976 to achieve the feat.
For the record, the other people to have appeared in 200 consecutive County Championship matches have been:
423 - KG Suttle for Sussex 1954-1969
412 - JG Binks for Yorkshire 1955-1969
399 - J Vine for Sussex 1899-1914
344 - EH Killick for Sussex 1898-1912
326 - CN Woolley for Northamptonshire 1913-1931
305 - AH Dyson for Glamorgan 1930-1947
301 - B Taylor for Essex 1961-1972
287 - HHIH Gibbons for Worcestershire 1927-1937
287 - GO Dawkes for Derbyshire 1950-1961
282 - HG Davies for Glamorgan 1947-1957
276 - RB Nicholls for Gloucestershire 1962-1972
272 - JT Hearne for Middlesex 1890-1906
266 - LTA Bates for Warwickshire 1924-1934
262 - AE Dipper for Gloucestershire 1921-1930
259 - BJ Meyer for Gloucestershire 1958-1967
231 - WG Quaife for Warwickshire 1895-1907
227 - GL Berry for Leicestershire 1933-1948
222 - H Elliott for Derbyshire 1929-1937
219 - BA Langford for Somerset 1957-1964
216 - DE Davies for Glamorgan 1931-1939
216 - CT Radley for Middlesex 1967-1976
215 - JA Newman for Hampshire 1921-1928
215 - JE Timms for Northamptonshire 1927-1935
215 - A Wood for Yorkshire 1928-1935
215 - H Horton for Hampshire 1955-1962
210 - NF Armstrong for Leicestershire 1931-1939
209 - C Charlesworth for Warwickshire 1905-1919
206 - R Smith for Essex 1938-1952
202 - HR Murrell for Middlesex 1908-1922