Honoured to have a stand named after me: Engineer

It was an emotional Wednesday morning for Farokh Engineer and Clive Lloyd as Lancashire honoured the legends and unveiled two stands named after them at the iconic Old Trafford.

Engineer, who played County cricket for the club for nearly a decade and guided Lancashire to the Gillette Cup title four times, became the first player from India to have a stand named after him in England. Joined by his family and old friend Dilip Vengsarkar, also a former India captain, Engineer looked excited as he happily obliged spectators with selfies and autographs.

“This is a great honour to have a stand named after me at Old Trafford, where I’ve had some great memories,” Engineer told The Hindu.

Lloyd, who captained the West Indies to two World Cup victories, and Engineer joined Lancashire in the 1960s, shortly after English counties were allowed to sign overseas players. They both had memorable outings with the iconic club as Engineer played 175 matches in nine seasons for Lancashire, scoring 5,942 runs, while for Lloyd, his 30 First Class centuries were scored for the club in his 18-season long stint.

“It’s a great honour, (and it’s great) to be back at this ground,” Lloyd said.

As he looked at his picture near the gate, it was a walk down memory lane for the 87-year-old Engineer. “Those were incredible times, and people would come from various corners of the town to watch Lancashire play. With a huge fan base, we were one of the most famous one-day teams in those days,” he said.

While the former wicketkeeper-batter was bestowed with the BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award last year, no stand has been named after him at his homeground – Wankhede Stadium, which recently unveiled stands named after India captains Rohit Sharma and the late Ajit Wadekar.