Mark Wallace
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Mark Alexander Wallace (born 19 November 1981 in Abergavenny) is a Welsh cricketer; a left-handed batsman and wicket-keeper.
Wallace made his second XI debut for Glamorgan at the age of just 15, and by 1998 he was in the England U-19 team that played Pakistan, as well as accompanying them to New Zealand the following winter and playing three one-day games against Australia U-19s in the summer of 1999, a year in which he won the NBC Denis Compton Award.
In September 1999, he made his bow in first-class cricket, appearing in the County Championship game against Somerset at the age of 17 years and 287 days - thus making him Glamorgan's youngest ever Championship wicket-keeper. Wallace took five catches in the match, and scored 28 from number nine in the first innings, and this was enough for him to keep his county place for the rest of the season. In an innings victory over Yorkshire, he made his first half-century: 64 not out, again batting at number nine.
After appearing in the U-19 World Cup in the winter, Wallace played no first-team county cricket for the first half of the season, concentrating on his A-Levels, but in August was appointed captain of the U-19s for a one-day series against Sri Lanka, though was unable to take up his appointment because of an injury to his hand. He did, however, recover in time to replace the (also injured) Adrian Shaw for Glamorgan near the end of the season.
After another U-19 tour, this time to India, Wallace established himself during the 2001 season as his county's first-choice wicket-keeper, and was selected to visit Australia with the ECB National Academy squad, an honour he repeated the following winter. 2002 saw him make his maiden first-class century when he hit an unbeaten 106 in Glamorgan's pipe-opener against Derbyshire, albeit in a losing cause. Wallace finished 2002 with 61 dismissals in first-class and 27 in List A games, the latter helping his side to the Norwich Union League title.
The 2003 summer brought Wallace both his county cap and his greatest success with the bat, as he hit 856 first-class runs at 29.51 including 117 against Durham in August and 121 against the same opponents a month later; on the second occasion, Wallace opened the batting. However, he struggled in the one-day game, averaging a mere 10.50 in that form of cricket. In 2004 and 2005, Wallace maintained his place in the team, averaging in the mid-to-high twenties in both seasons, though his totals of both runs and dismissals declined slightly from the heights of 2003.
