Lester and the Deckchair Revolution

Martin Chandler | 9:16am GMT 30 November 2025

Published: 2025
Pages: 143
Author: Murtagh, Andrew and Pigott, Tony
Publisher: Fairfield Books
Rating: 4.5 stars

Tony Pigott is a couple of years older than I am, but that doesn’t really matter once you are into your sixties. Thus the whole of his playing career, and that was almost two decades long, took place in my adult life, but despite my lifelong passion for cricket until now he wasn’t much more than just a name to me, albeit a familiar one.

I knew he was a quick bowler of course, and I also knew he was never quite good enough to be selected for an England team, although one thing I was aware of was the tale of him missing his wedding in order to help out in a crisis in New Zealand where he played his one Test back in 1983/84*.

I don’t even recall Pigott’s nickname being ‘Lester’ not that, for a child of the 60s and 70s, that comes as any sort of surprise to me. No one mentions him now but jockey Lester Pigott, even if his surname was pronounced ‘the other way’ was a massive celebrity in those days. All in all when cricket’s Pigott’s name was mentioned in the context of an autobiography I was slightly surprised that a man who I assumed was just a long serving county stalwart had decided to write such a book.

It turns out however that Pigott has packed an enormous amount more into his sixty plus years than I have into mine, and his story is a compelling read. Although his personality seems to be nothing like that of the archetypal public schoolboy Pigott learnt his cricket at one of England’s most prestigious schools, Harrow, a harsh and austere place where his all-round sporting talents seem to have served him well.

Choosing professional cricket as a career was perhaps an unusual step for an Old Harrovian, and particularly one whose father was a stockbroker, but it gave plenty of rewards to Pigott in terms of success, winters overseas and that solitary England cap. A wholehearted fast bowler and useful batsman he was, strangely given where he was educated, largely uncoached. He also suffered more than many from serious injury, at one point fairly early in his career choosing to undergo surgery that a leading consultant told him not to risk.

It is Pigott who makes the observation about the voluminous nature of his medical notes. In addition to requiring screws in his spine he also suffered at various times from all the traditional fast bowling injuries and, evidence of his sheer determination, beat them all during his career. He is also a diabetic who has to inject himself four times a day and, more recently, has been a victim of oesophageal cancer. Thankfully he is is clear of that now. The positivity with which he seems to have approached all his health setbacks is remarkable.

The wedding that was postponed due to that England cap was sadly doomed to failure. It is sadly not unusual for marriages to fail, not least amongst those, like professional sportsmen, who lead such peripatetic lives, but few end in court with leading counsel representing the parties. Pigott’s did, and the court battle was over the custody of his young son. Perhaps understandably the reasons for the marriage breakdown and indeed the basis of the custody dispute are not spelt out but, like his medical battles, Pigott set out to overcome adversity and did so, retaining custody of his son.

And then there is the deckchair revolution of the book’s sub-title. His beloved Sussex were almost down and out when, in a bloodless coup, he ended up CEO of the club. He seems to have been instrumental in many of the initiatives which laid the foundations for the county’s successes that followed a few years later although by then he was gone, certainly on his account treated very shabbily by people he was entitled to expect better of.

Whilst the CEO position at Sussex is the highest profile post cricket job that Pigott has held he has done plenty of other things as well. Some are cricketing, such as pitch inspector and match referee for the ECB, and some not, such as working for an insurance firm run by former Brighton footballer Steve Foster and running a chalet in France. All give rise to some interesting tales.

It is clear that Pigott has, to get where he has, had plenty of challenges to the face. That said he seems not to harbour any feelings of bitterness at what has happened to him. Perhaps as a cancer survivor he now has a different take on what really matters, but his book does give the impression that he is the sort of bloke anyone would want to have a beer or two with. And there are certainly one or two questions raised by Lester and the Deckchair Revolution that I would like to ask him about, and it is only those few small gaps in the narrative that stop this one getting a five star rating.

*Ironically enough I read most of this book against a background of England’s second day debacle in Perth. Pigott’s Test actually saw a worse performance from England than that, although I should immediately add that if any Englishman emerged from it with any credit it was Pigott.