Bicknell joins 1000 club

By Martin Gough

People will tell you how many you've got but I've always had a fair idea Martin Bicknell

Martin Bicknell's first wicket was Chris Marples, who played just a handful of matches for Derbyshire. The 1000th was Matt Dennington, making his first-class debut for Kent.

More famous names have been filed in between but for Bicknell they all counted the same.

"I couldn't care - a wicket is a wicket," said the Surrey stalwart.

"I was just glad it was caught behind not at mid-off - replaying it on TV wouldn't be quite the same."

A thousand wickets used to be a rite of passage for leading bowlers - it is less than a quarter of Wilfred Rhodes' haul in a 32-year career with England and Yorkshire.

But Bicknell's achievement is best measured in that he is one of three active players in county cricket with a wicket-tally in four figures.

FIRST-CLASS WICKET-TAKERS All-time Wilfred Rhodes 4205 Tich Freeman 3776 Charlie Parker 3278 Jack Hearne 3061 Active county players Philip DeFreitas 1215 Mushtaq Ahmed 1013 Martin Bicknell 1003 Andrew Caddick 918

It is difficult to keep a copy of Wisden to hand in the field, but Bicknell, who finally made the big yellow book as one of the Cricketers of the Year in 2001, has a pretty accurate tally running in his head.

"It's something I've had my eye on since I had about 700 so to finally do it was a huge relief," he said.

"Stats are always part of the game so you can't miss it. Every now and again people will tell you how many you've got but I've always had a fair idea."

The 1000th, like the first, was an away-swinger, edged and caught behind - a trademark for the 6ft 4ins 35-year-old, who has dominated county cricket for the last 19 seasons.

For a man who lists his most admired cricketers as "All honest county trundler" he is anything but, making up with guile and precision for his lack of express pace.

Bicknell rates the Test scalp of SA's Rudolph as one of his best

An unusually high proportion of his wickets - 640 in all - have been caught, recent Surrey wicket-keepers Alec Stewart and Jonathan Batty accounting for 140 of them.

Despite a career stretching back to 1986, Bicknell picks out a wicket from last year as one of his favourites.

After 10 years of missing out on England selection, he was at his best in front of his home crowd at a packed Oval, playing in his fourth Test.

Jaques Rudolph was set up with a three-card trick - two out-swingers and one that came back in to bowl him - helping England on their way to a famous series-tying victory.

BICKNELL'S 1000 WICKETS Caught 640 c Alec Stewart 87 c Jon Batty 53 c Ali Brown 36 Lbw 213 Bowled 147 Score under 10 487 Test wickets 14

"It is right up there because of the importance of the Test match and how I got it," Bicknell said.

"But they're all good. I always enjoy taking wickets, especially first-class ones - it's always the same great feeling."

The targets remain - he expects to pass 1000 Championship wickets for Surrey, the club he has represented since the age of 10, before hanging up his boots.

"I feel good," he said. "At the start of every season I always think, How long can I play for, how long do I want to play for?

"But if I bowl like that there's no reason I can't keep going for a while yet."