Marcus James North (born 28 July 1979) is an Australian cricketer, who previously played 21 Test matches for the Australian national cricket team. Born in Victoria, North grew up in Western Australia, attending Kent Street Senior High School, and was a successful junior cricketer, entering the Australian Cricket Academy and playing under-19 cricket for Australia. He made his first-class debut for the Academy in 1999, and his debut for the Western Australian cricket team the same year. Having established himself in the Western Australian team, North debuted for Australia A during the 2002–03 season, and later began playing in the County Championship during the 2004 English cricket season, for Durham. In English cricket, he would go on to play for Lancashire (2005), Derbyshire (2006), Gloucestershire (2007–2008), Hampshire (2009), and Glamorgan (2012), becoming the first player of any nationality to represent six different counties.North was made captain of Western Australia for the 2007–08 season, and was consistently selected for Australia A, which he also captained. A left-handed batsman and part-time right-arm off-break bowler, North made his Test debut for Australia in February 2009, scoring a century on debut against South Africa. He played a further 20 Tests and two one-day internationals for Australia before being dropped from the side during the 2010–11 Ashes series. Upon the entry of the Perth Scorchers into the newly created Big Bash League, North was appointed the team's captain. However, in October 2012, North resigned as captain of both Western Australia and the Perth Scorchers to concentrate on his playing career.
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