Paul Allott

The world turned up at Northampton in 1981 to watch the great fast bowler Michael Holding make his debut for Lancashire. His thunder was stolen by a tall, blond, bespectacled unknown at the other end, who took 8 for 48 with unpretentious late outswing. Barely three months later, Paul Allott was an England cricketer and Lancashire thought they might have their new Brian Statham. Allott shed the specs but never quite became the new Statham. In the less forgiving conditions of Test cricket, he often struggled but remained a mainstay for Lancashire throughout the decade before finding an afterlife as one of Sky TV's more perceptive and agreeable commentators.
Matthew Engel