Terrific Article on Allan Lamb

[The Outsider]

My Favourite Cricketer - Allan Lamb The roar of the Lamb Lawrence Booth If love is blind, then my relationship with Allan Lamb was more a myopic obsession. He never knew about it, of course, and the one time I met him I had to fight hard not to blub pathetically and admit all. I was old enough to know better by then but the two of us had already been through a lot together. It had not always been easy. Lamb finished with a Test average of 36.09, which pained me. His highest Test score was 142, which was, frankly, careless. And, well, he was not exactly English, was he? "Limmie," my mates would snigger in a mock-South African accent, as if that settled the argument. But none of this mattered. Lambie and I had a bond that transcended trivialities like statistics and passports. Anyone captivated by Test cricket remembers the series that did it. For me it was England's trip to the West Indies in 1989-90, which I followed on the radio in my bedroom, insulated from the world. There was something magical about that faint crackle and, when Lambie made 132 in England's shock win in the first Test at Sabina Park, I was under his spell. He later made 119 in Barbados and I can recall the words of the BBC's Trevor Bailey as another bottom-handed cover drive - feet in concrete - propelled the ball to the boundary: "Allan Lamb is a fine player." The emphasis was on "is" and "fine", as if Bailey was reminding us of a truism. At least that is how an impressionable 14-year-old heard it. With Lamb came his adopted county, Northamptonshire - another deeply unfashionable choice [Graham Gooch and Essex would have been so much simpler]. In 1995, with the help of Anil Kumble, he almost captained us to our first Championship. He was brassy, aggressive, irritating - and I loved him for it. Against Nottinghamshire we conceded over 500 in the first innings, but Lambie insisted on building a lead rather than declaring behind. He was one of four centurions as Northants rattled up 781 for 7 and won by an innings and plenty. I swelled with pride as writers began to refer to us as "the people's choice" [never mind that the people largely ignored county cricket] and nearly wept with frustration when our 12 wins out of 17 were not enough to topple either Warwickshire or Middlesex. We have never come so close since. He loved to hook and cut and he was short in stature, which is why he scored runs against West Indies. And he had this nerveless, tireless way about him By this stage Lambie was long gone as an England player. He had retired from the international game in 1992, which meant that I enjoyed at first hand only the final two-and-a-half years of his imperfect career. Only research could complete the picture. I lapped up tales of his four centuries in the summer of 1984 - three of them against the all-conquering West Indians (he would make six Test hundreds against them in all, my favourite Lambie stat). I rejoiced when he hit 18 off Bruce Reid's final over to beat the Aussies in a one-dayer at Sydney. I took vicarious pride in the fact that he had scored a century in only his third Test, against India at The Oval. And I could usually recite his batting average to two decimal places. His career post-1990 was, to be honest, a bit of a struggle. But we pulled through. I remember spending a summer holiday in 1990 on a French camp site and waiting anxiously as my brother did the newspaper-and-croissants run. Back he came with the news: Lambie had scored 109 in the second Test against India at Old Trafford. Surely this would silence the carpers, especially after his 139 in the first Test at Lord's [but why did Gooch have to steal the show with that 333?]. It was pure solipsism: Lambie existed only to thrill or disappoint me, and I regarded it as a personal triumph when his 142 saved the Wellington Test early in 1992. A few months later I was there at Lord's when Lambie faced what turned out to be his final ball in Test cricket: a grubber from Mushtaq Ahmed that struck him plumb in front. He made 12. There were three more seasons with Northants and then, just like that, he was gone. There were wranglings over some controversial content in his autobiography; retirement was the only option. But did it have to be so clean and brutal? There was no farewell. Nothing. Those were hard days. It is virtually impossible to put my finger on why I worshipped Lambie so zealously. He was a hopeless starter and failed far too often for someone who played 79 Tests. He made 14 Test hundreds but only 18 fifties. He could look appalling against spin and tended to push at the ball with those stiff South African wrists. But he had this swagger. He loved to hook and cut and he was short in stature, which is why he scored runs against West Indies. And he had this nerveless, tireless way about him. When I got the chance to meet him, I could hardly contain myself. Friends of mine had been invited to a day's golf and socialising and the Lambs would be there too. We shook hands and chatted about the ups and downs of Northamptonshire and taking tons off Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, a subject he knew more about than I did. It was fun but I wondered whether I should have preserved Lambie in the realm of idolatry. Did I regret meeting him? A bit. He would never quite be the same again. But, hell, we would always have Sabina. This article was first published in the July 2005 issue of Wisden Asia Cricket, and most recently in the October issue of The Wisden Cricketer Lawrence Booth writes the Guardian's weekly cricket email, The Spin

I was a huge fan of Lamb in the 80s as well. Probably it was his exploits against the WI during the 80s which contributed to the fondness. I also remember him taking 17 runs off the last over of Bruce Reid in an ODI to win the match. They showed that final over in DD news. Amazing and clean hitting. Also, didn't know which way to react when Akram, another favourite of mine, cleaned up Lamb in the '92 WC final. The article was a nice trip down memory lane. On a side note, is the success of three South Africans playing for England against the best team of their times ie. Lamb, Robin Smith, and Pietersen just a coincidence?

[Guest BossBhai]

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[Lurker]

Excellent cricketer, one of those players whose statistics shall never do justice to what they actually meant to their teams. Lamb, alongwith Amarnath and Alan Border, was the ultimate buccaneer of 80s. When chips were down thats when he played his best cricket - back to the wall. I still remember the couple of series in 80s in England when he single-handedly took at the marauding West Indies bowling. For the most part he was a one man band in those seasons even though England had other good players - Gooch, Botham, Gower etch. The English team of 80s may not by any account be one of the best teams ever, but they sure had truckloads of characters. Players like Botham, Phil Edmonds, Emburey, Randall and Lamb were all massive characters, and as a cricket fan you should perhaps read some of their efforts, mostly off the wicket. Lamb, for example, would always make phone calls from Botham's room when travelling and at the end of the series Botham shall have to pay for all those long-distance calls. Good times.