Tony Lock

Tony Lock

Tony Lock in 1970
Personal information
Full name	Graham Anthony Richard Lock
Born	(1929-07-05)5 July 1929 Limpsfield, Surrey, England
Died	30 March 1995(1995-03-30) (aged 65) Perth, Australia
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Slow left arm orthodox
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 370)	17 July 1952 v India
Last Test	3 April 1968 v West Indies
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1946–1963	Surrey
1962–1971	Western Australia
1965–1967	Leicestershire
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class List A Matches 49 654 8 Runs scored 742 10,342 5 Batting average 13.74 15.88 1.00 100s/50s –/3 –/27 –/– Top score 89 89 3 Balls bowled 13,147 150,168 428 Wickets 174 2,844 10 Bowling average 25.58 19.23 27.00 5 wickets in innings 9 196 – 10 wickets in match 3 50 n/a Best bowling 7/35 10/54 3/20 Catches/stumpings 59/– 831/– 3/–
Source: Cricinfo, 8 September 2009

Graham Anthony Richard (Tony) Lock (5 July 1929 – 30 March 1995) was an English cricketer, who played primarily as a left-arm spinner. He played in forty nine Tests for England taking 174 wickets at 25.58 each.

Lock took 2,844 first-class wickets, placing him ninth on the all-time list, and is the only player to score more than 10,000 runs without once making a century; despite passing fifty on 27 occasions, his highest score was 89, made in a Test in Guyana. His tally of 831 first class catches, mostly taken at short leg, lies behind only W.G. Grace and Frank Woolley.

Born in Limpsfield, Surrey, Tony Lock had the weighty backing of HDG Leveson Gower and made his first-class debut for Surrey County Cricket Club at just seventeen years and eight days old on 13 July 1946, which made him the youngest ever to play for the county. However he did not play regularly until 1949. In 1951 he took 105 wickets, and broke the 100-wicket barrier every year up to and including 1962, on two occasions (1955 and 1957) claiming more than 200 victims.

Lock made his England debut in the third Test against India in 1952, and played the fourth and fifth Tests against Australia the following summer; he had in fact been picked for the first game, but had worn his spinning finger raw after being named in the team and had had to withdraw while it healed. However, England regained the Ashes and for his efforts Lock was named one of Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1954 edition of Wisden's Almanack. However, he also had to deal with accusations (not entirely unfounded) that he was a 'chucker', being called for throwing on more than one occasion. This was one of the grudges that many had against him, the other was his consistent Test selection over Johnny Wardle of Yorkshire.