News of Tony Pigott’s death reached Hove on Friday morning and it landed hard. The former Sussex and England seamer – later the county’s chief executive – was 67.
Pigott’s cricket life began early. A teenage debut in 1978 brought an unforgettable first wicket: he turned it into a hat-trick against Surrey on his home ground. He had gone wicketless in his first two matches, then suddenly had three in three. Friends say he never tired of telling the story.
His solitary Test was almost as unlikely. In January 1984 England’s tour party in New Zealand ran out of fit bowlers. Pigott, playing club cricket in Wellington and days away from his own wedding, answered the call. He pushed the ceremony back to the Monday, opened the bowling in Christchurch and finished with 2 for 94. England lost, his marriage went ahead, and he returned to county life with another tale for the bar.
A move to Surrey in 1994 promised a late-career reboot, yet back trouble forced retirement two summers later. Coaching Sussex’s second team followed, though administration soon beckoned. In 1997 a new committee asked Pigott to become chief executive. He accepted, talked about “modernising without losing the soul” and quickly set about both.
Permanent floodlights appeared at Hove – the first in the county game – and, more importantly, a sense of purpose. Six years later Sussex lifted their maiden County Championship. Many inside the dressing-room credit Pigott for lighting a fire long before the final trophy lift.
On the club website, title-winning captain Chris Adams wrote:
“Tony was one of, if not, the biggest positive transformative influences in the history of the club,” he wrote. “An incredibly sad day for his family, the Sussex family and indeed the broader family of cricket.”
“Personally, Tony played an enormous part in moulding my life for the better and was the number one reason I signed for Sussex in 1998. A really loveable, glass-half-full character who will be missed dearly by many.”
“Thank you ‘Lester’ for everything you did for Sussex CCC, the 2003 Championship in my eyes will always be dedicated to you and the brave few who stood up and were counted in 1997.”
Pigott stepped down as CEO in 1999 but stayed in the game as pitch inspector, match referee and occasional pundit. Ill-health followed him during the past decade, never quite slowing the flow of stories. Only last November he published his memoir, “Lester and the Deckchair Revolution”, its title a nod to his dressing-room nickname.
Those who worked with Pigott talk of energy before ability, warmth before numbers. The stats – 672 first-class wickets at 28.39 – are strong enough, yet the real measure comes in the tributes now surfacing. A bowler who could swing it, an administrator who could sell a vision, a friend who seldom left early. Cricket, certainly Sussex cricket, is smaller today.
