Book Review: Laker and Lock - The Odd Couple

Was there ever a greater, longer-lasting or more influential spin pairing than Jim Laker and Tony Lock?

The longevity of their careers and the successes within them suggest not.  Their names are synonymous with the Surrey side that won seven successive titles in the 1950s (though fortuitously in 1954, when only the weather robbed Derbyshire).  Laker the best-known,  primarily for the unlikely to be repeated feat of 19 wickets in a Test against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. For the rest of his days it irked Tony Lock,  the surprise among cricket fans being that he only took one,  more than that his colleague took nineteen on a spinner's wicket. 

As personalities they were diametrically opposed.  Laker,  the laconic Yorkshireman, not saying too much but making it pertinent and often pithy when he opted to.  Lock the more volatile,  the southerner who bristled with aggression on the field and wore his heart on his sleeve. 

For all the near-five thousand wickets they took together - and Lock,  who played longer,  took nine hundred more than his regular team mate - they were never especially close.  Indeed,  it was only when they slipped into all too short retirement that they got on better. But each was the perfect foil for the other, Laker the off spinner of the subtle variations,  Lock the slow left armer, not averse to reverting to bouncers if a batsman outstayed his welcome.

Laker faced challenges with an arthritic and calloused spinning finger,  which eventually forced his premature retirement.  Lock,  who by general consensus threw his quicker ball in the 1950s, reinvented himself and became arguably an even better bowler after a change of action.  He also took on the captaincy of Western Australia and led them to their first Sheffield Shield,  then Leicestershire,  taking them to their then highest-placed finish in the County Championship,  second place. 

Christopher Sandford is an experienced writer and does a fine job with his subjects,  both of them with stories worth the retelling. Both men struggled with authority and tales abound of their frequent brushes with establishment figures.  Both also died too young,  Laker at 64, Lock a year older when his time came.

Their stories are neatly intertwined and by the end of it I was firmly of the opinion that Tony Lock was undervalued as a cricketer.  Only seven men have taken more first-class wickets in the history of the game and he also held 830 catches,  202 from his own bowling,  124 from that of Laker. While Laker became a respected commentator,  his death widely mourned,  Lock became embroiled in scandal which tarnished his sizeable legacy.

But what players they were,  what giants of the game. 

And what a very good book this is. 

Laker and Lock: The Odd Couple is written by Christopher Sandford and published by Pitch Publishing.