series he did very well, scoring two fifties and a century against South Africa. Though he followed that with another impressive hundred against Australia in the first Ashes Test that winter, he then failed for the rest of that series. A poor run of form followed, as he failed to score a half-century in twelve consecutive matches. Despite being appointed stand-in captain for one Test against New Zealand, he was dropped from the side in the winter of 2000. He subsequently lost the place in test side to none other than Marcus Trescothick. Butcher's domestic form then suffered an uncharacteristic and dramatic decline, and he found himself languishing in the Surrey second eleven at the start of the 2001 English domestic season. However, hard work and coaching from his father, Alan, himself a former Surrey and England player, sorted out his form. He was drafted into the Test side to play the Australians and strong showings throughout that series culminated in a superb innings of 173 not out at Headingley, as England successfully chased 315 to win (although the series was by then lost). After that series, Butcher continued to prosper until a run of injuries saw him lose his place. Consistent performances had made him an essential component of the England batting line-up, to be relied upon in a crisis. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the series in the West Indies in 2003–04, when he always batted well irrespective of the sometimes poor showing by various partners at the other end, and he passed fifty in four out of seven innings. He was the top runscorer for England in England's emphatic series win in Caribbean by smacking 296 runs in foyr matches. A series of serious injuries kept Butcher out of the game for most of 2005, and his last Test was the first Test in South Africa in December 2004. The series of injury setbacks also subsequently put a dramatic end to his run of 42 successive test match appearances for England. During his illustrious yet volatile test career, he was regarded as one of the worst overnight resumers in test cricket as he often gets out quickly without adding much runs to his overnight score as he averages just 26.93 in 31 innings when it comes to starting the proceedings from overnight scores. Thereafter, he struggled to recover properly from numerous injury set-backs, and although