From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Allan Joseph Lamb (born 20 June 1954) is a former English cricketer. Born in Cape Province, South Africa. Lamb first played first-class cricket for Western Province, before being signed as an overseas player by Northamptonshire. There, he was persuaded that with South Africa banned from Test match cricket because of the apartheid régime, he should take advantage of his parents' English heritage to play for England.
In the years that followed, he played in 79 Tests, captaining England on three occasions, losing every one of them. He led Northamptonshire in 1995 and came close to securing the County Championship; it would have been the County's first ever Championship.
Lamb was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1981. In 467 first class matches he scored 32,502 runs at 48.94 with a best of 294 for Western Province against Eastern Province.
Allan Lamb is one of only six players to have batted on all five days of a Test match. In One Day International cricket, he smashed 18 runs in five balls (24624) off Australian Bruce Reid at Sydney in January 1987 to win the match with a ball to spare. In October 1987 during the World Cup, he engendered an unbelievable English victory against the West Indies with a blistering assault on Courtney Walsh.
Allan Lamb's Test career batting performance graph.
A great friend of Ian Botham, in his retirement Lamb went on a stage tour with him, discussing various humorous incidents from their time as England team mates. Allan "Lamby" Lamb & Ian "Beefy" Botham have advertised Quality Standard English lamb and beef for the English Beef and Lamb Executive, using the play on their names as a selling point. Their cartoon caricatures have featured in TV and print.
Allan Lamb was a contestant on a special Cricketers Edition of the Weakest Link, where he was voted off in the second round.
[edit] External reference
[edit] See also
International cricketers of South African origin