We wouldn't normally contemplate making a cricketer a Reverse Sweep hero twice, but with Marcus Trescothick we have to make an exception.
In naming our heroes of the 2011 County Cricket season, it would be impossible to leave out the Somerset captain, who last week was named PCA player of the year for the third time.
Trescothick certainly had another extraordinary season hitting 2518 runs in all competitions. He scored close to 300 Championship runs more than anyone else despite missing Somerset's last three matches due to an ankle injury. He also fell just 22 runs short of achieving the Holy Grail of 1,000 runs before the end of May.
We've already heralded Trescothick's England achievements as well as the bravery and honesty he demonstrated in tackling the black dog of depression- see Heroes: Marcus Trescothick - so there is no need to repeat ourselves here.
But since arriving back from Australia in a desperate state in November 2006, Trescothick's phenomenal consistency in the County Championship deserves to be lauded. In those five years, his Championship returns have been:
2011: 1673 runs at 79.66 with six hundreds
2010: 1397 runs at 58.20 with four hundreds
2009: 1817 runs at 75.70 with eight hundreds
2008: 1258 runs at 46.59 with three hundreds
2007: 1315 runs at 62.61 with four hundreds
Overall that amounts to nearly 7,500 runs at an average of 64 with 25 100s and just confirms our assertion last week that Trescothick has usurped Mark Ramprakash as the outstanding batsman plying his trade in County Cricket today.
The only thing missing from Trescothick's season was the failure of Somerset to shed its bridesmaid's tag. Runners-up finishes in both the CB40 and Friends Life t20 this season added to the woe of finishing second in every competition last season.
Hopefully, Somerset will go one step further in at least one competition next summer and Trescothick will finally get to hold a trophy aloft. If he does, it won't just be Somerset fans that will be as pleased as punch.
Where next?
Read all our other pieces featuring Marcus Trescothick
County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Rory Hamilton-Brown
County Cricket 2011 Heroes: Michael Carberry
County Championship XI of the season
County Championship Division 1 XI of the season
County Championship Division 2 XI of the season
Read all of our County Cricket coverage
Check out all our Reverse Sweep cricket heroes and zeroes
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