Allan Lamb

Allan Lamb was born in Cape Province in South Africa. He was one of the top batsmen of his era and during his career captained his club, Northamptonshire and England.

He first played first-class cricket for Western Province, before being signed as an overseas player by Northamptonshire. It was here that he made his fame, and was persuaded by Ken Turner, their secretary, that with South Africa banned from test match cricket because of the apartheid régime, he was best taking advantage of his parents’ English heritage to play for England.

Allan became 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.

He played in 79 tests captaining England on three occasions. In 1995 he came close to taking Northamptonshire to their first Championship.

With over 4600 Test runs, including 14 Test hundreds for England and over 100 one-day international appearances, he has been one of the most successful batsman of his generation.