Some England cricketers are born; there was no destiny in Allan Lamb's career. Signed from Western Province as an unknown by Northamptonshire as their overseas player in 1978, he was chugging along nicely when Ken Turner, their secretary, persuaded him that South Africa were years away from returning to Test cricket and that he should invoke his English-born parents to play for England. He never lost his accent nor his attitudes: there was always the hint of the colonial chancer about him -- but Lamb was to be a fixture of the England middle order for the next decade. Small, stocky, aggressive, he had a correct technique, power in his shots and a gift for needling the bowlers. Lamb captained England in three Tests, hopelessly, but in 1995 he came close to taking Northamptonshire to their first Championship, strutting round the county grounds like Napoleon.
Matthew Engel