Automatic choice for England from 2000 to 2006, began playing county cricket for Somerset in 1993, England's leading batsman in 2001-02.
He was educated at the Sir Bernard Lovell School, where he was nicknamed "Banger" due to his diet.
He set the record for the fastest half-century in English Twenty20 cricket.
His father Martyn played for Somerset's Second XI.
He was the second-highest run scorer in the 2005 Ashes behind Kevin Pietersen.
