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Mark Butcher swapped his bat for a guitar after retiring from cricket with four Ashes series appearances. The Croydon-born cricketer, who made his Test debut in 1997 and scored eight centuries during his career, enjoyed a 17-year stint as an opening batsman for Surrey.

Despite not winning the Ashes, Butcher found a new passion in music, spending much of his free time honing his guitar skills post-retirement in the late 2000s. In a 2013 interview, the ex-cricketer said: "I've always played, written and sung since I was 14 and was in bands before my cricket career.

"I formed a band and since then we've been out playing, performing and promoting our album 'Songs From The Sun House', and I'm loving every minute of it. It's something I love doing – the only comparison with cricket is the amount of time you sit around doing nothing!".

Butcherreleased his debut album, 'Songs from the Sun House', in 2010. The album features a heartfelt tribute to the late Australian cricketer Ben Hollioake, who tragically died in a car crash at just 24.

The song, titled 'You're Never Gone', was dedicated to the former Australian star. The ex-cricket star also showcased his singing talents on the BBC competition show Just The Two Of Us, where he secured third place alongside actress Sarah Brightman.

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When asked about his cricket career and why he transitioned to music, Butcher said: "Most of my generation bridged the slightly more amateur age of the game. I played the game as if I was a club cricketer – if you won you had a few beers and the social aspects were different.

"These days, players are frowned upon if they look like they're enjoying themselves. As soon as it is perceived that you are making a lot of money from something, being seen to be anything other than 100% dedicated to it isn't on.

"Players are sneered at now if you're doing something that doesn't involve being in a gym. It's a side effect of money."

These days, Butcher can be found sharing his insights on Sky Sports, often commenting on the current international cricket scene. Before the Ashes kicked off this year, he said: "Apart from catching every chance, this is obviously going to require a big collective effort from the batting line-up to get par scores on the board, ones that keep you in the game, as on the bowling front they look pretty potent.

"There are ifs and buts about every player on the England side. So, if I were captain, in the first two games in particular where the pitches are set to be seamer-friendly, I would have been keen to have someone like Will Jacks or Jacob Bethell coming in at No 7 or 8 with lower-order runs important. England have not gone that way.

"As Nasser says, the short ball will probably come into play from Australia and the sizes of the boundaries in that part of the world mean England will have to stick them out of the park or be disciplined."