Lester and the Deckchair Revolution : The Life and Times of Tony Pigott

Tony Pigott is perhaps best remembered as the man who postponed his wedding to play for England. But thatis just a very small part of his quietly extraordinary story.

The best schoolboy rackets player in the country; the Sussex player whose first three first-class wickets werea hat trick of internationals; and yes, he did postpone his wedding to play his only Test for his country on thesex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll tour of New Zealand; the man who has injected himself as a diabetes sufferer everyday for the past 35 years; the figurehead of the deckchair revolution that led to Sussex winning the first CountyChampionship title in their history; the oesophageal cancer sufferer who has overcome the illness. And yes, these are all one man. Anthony Charles Shackleton Pigott. As befits a distant relative of the explorerErnest Shackleton, it’s one hell of a story. Told with the brutal honesty of a man who knows his cricket never scaled the heights but, after 46 full years inthe game as player, coach, chief executive, pitch inspector and match referee, is now on a mission to help othercricketers suffering from cancer.