Alex Wakely and Lynn Wilson Join Northamptonshire’s Hall of Fame

Lynn Wilson is remembered as one of the most generous benefactors in the club’s history – a fiercely proud Northamptonian who cared passionately about sport and those who play it, especially young people.

It is entirely appropriate that the Indoor Centre at the County Ground – opened in 1998, and which gives so many boys and girls their first taste of cricket – should bear his name.

A keen cricketer himself, Lynn became managing director of the family construction firm in the 1960s and joined NCCC’s committee in 1971.  He chaired the Centenary Appeal, which managed – in the unpromising economic climate of the late-1970s – to fund the building of the New Pavilion.

As Chairman, President and Patron of the club, he remained adamant that standing still was never an option.  His personal generosity and business acumen allowed Northamptonshire to ‘punch above its weight’ in English cricket.

It was a fitting achievement for a cricketer who came through the club’s youth system and Academy, before joining the professional staff in 2008.

In all formats he scored around 12,000 runs for Northamptonshire and captained the team in nearly 200 matches.

After securing the T20 title in 2013 he missed the following season through a serious Achilles tendon injury, but fought his way back to fitness and repeated the achievement three years later.

He also earned much praise for his leadership during a period when the club’s future was under threat as a result of serious financial pressures, which saw the playing budget cut sharply.