Wisden overview
Followers of Middlesex and Northants in the 1970s and early '80s find it hard to reconcile Tim Lamb the shaggy-haired swing bowler with the suave slicked-back spearhead of the England & Wales Cricket Board. As chief executive, Lamb has overseen the transformation of the ECB from small employer to large company. It was a long-overdue change, and on the whole it has been successful, although inevitably there have been teething troubles - an expensive lawsuit from an unhappy female employee, and persistent press piping about the barrage of "blazers" behind the scenes at every international match. Lamb, who cut his administrative teeth as a cheerful secretary of Middlesex, has always played down his aristocratic roots - his father is Lord Rochester, but he eschews his Honourable handle - so it is ironic that his biggest supporter in recent years has been the Rt Hon. Lord MacLaurin, the ECB chairman. It remains to be seen whether MacLaurin's successor, who takes over at the end of 2002, will be quite so supportive. Steven Lynch

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