It was an emotional Wednesday morning for Farokh Engineer and Clive Lloyd as Lancashire honoured the legends by unveiling two stands named after them at the iconic Old Trafford stadium.
Engineer, who had a decade-long career with the club and guided them 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 and former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar, Engineer looked excited as he happily obliged spectators with selfies and autograph requests.
“It is a great honour to have a stand named after me at Old Trafford, where I’ve had some great memories. It feels great to be honoured by the club at this age,” Engineer told Sportstar.
Lloyd, who captained the West Indies to two World Cup wins, and Engineer joined Lancashire in the 1960s, shortly after English counties were allowed to sign overseas players. Both had memorable outings with the iconic club. Engineer played 175 matches in nine seasons for Lancashire, scoring 5,942 runs, while Lloyd struck 30 first-class centuries 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 told this publication.
As he looked at his picture near the gate, it was a trip down memory lane for the 87-year-old Engineer. “Those were incredible times. 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.
The former wicketkeeper-batter was bestowed with the BCCI Lifetime Achievement Award last year, but has no stands named after him at his home ground, the Wankhede Stadium, which recently unveiled stands named after India captains Rohit Sharma and the late Ajit Wadekar. “Something like this is yet to happen in my country, but I was honoured by the BCCI last year for my contribution to the game and that was a huge moment,” the octogenarian said with a smile.