Former Australia batsman Stuart Law, speaking on the Cricket Life Stories YouTube series, revealed how a prolific run of form against Lancashire, while playing for Essex, eventually helped him secure a contract with the team.

Law, who scored over 27,000 first-class runs in all, represented Essex from 1996 to 2001 before securing a move to Lancashire for the next seven seasons. He admitted that he would have “loved to stay” at Essex, but there were personal factors in play that compelled the batsman to explore his options.

“I married a girl from Lancashire,” Law said. “She’s from Liverpool. So, it was always on the agenda to look to go home, close to her family and friends…Just so happened, Essex were playing Lancashire at Old Trafford. It was around August-September, they had [Murali] Muralitharan. I remember, during the first innings, speaking to Warren Hegg who was the captain and it was the time John Crawley had fallen out with someone at Lancs and he was moving to Hampshire.

“I remember asking Warren ‘I hear you’re looking for a No.4 batsman’. He said ‘Yea, we might be, we’re not sure. I got a 100 not out in the first innings of the Championship, came out in the second innings scored a 100 not out in the second innings. I remember still asking him all the way through it ‘Are you sure you’re not looking for a No.4 batsman?

"Maybe, before I hit the grave, they might have the courage to pick up the phone and let me know what actually went on."

Stuart Law reflects on Australia's inconsistent selection policy during the 1990s.https://t.co/nulFa7CaIC

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 17, 2020

“Then I got a 100 in the one-day game, the four-day game, the next tie. So I got three hundreds in four days against them and I was walking off after my third hundred in the one-day game, he said ‘Mate, hang around. We’ll have a chat at the end of this game’. So, that’s how it basically started.”

Law finished the 2001 season with 1311 first-class runs in 13 games at 65.55, paving the way for a move to Lancashire which was secured that winter, which the batsman described as “a perfect fit”.

“It just threw a bit of jest and a bit of fun. This day and age it’ll be sledging, not banter, it’ll be sledging but we had a chat, we had a beer at the end of the day’s play. By the time I got back to Essex, I was – not sealed, signed and delivered – but the talking had begun and the option to move there, which once I was offered, I couldn’t say no. My wife was really happy going back to…as I say, family and friends. It became a perfect fit.”