Small, tenacious and with a good eye for the sharp single, Fairbrother derived his two Christian names from another durable left-hander - and his mother's favourite cricketer - the former Australian Test batsman Neil Harvey. Fairbrother carved out a career for himself as England's leading one-day batsman in the middle order for much of the 1990s, picking the gaps with scientific precision, dabbing the ball behind square, occasionally hitting over the top on the leg side - and running like hell. He remains a livewire in the covers for Lancashire. But a largely bottom-handed technique and a weakness outside off stump cost him a longer run in the Test side, and the highlights of Fairbrother's international career were his appearances in three World Cups. He has been the architect of several one-day triumphs at Lancashire, where he was captain in 1992, and remained one of their batting linchpins at first-class level until his retirement at the end of 2002. He became a players' agent, and counts Andrew Flintoff among his clients.
Lawrence Booth