Ken Higgs

Ken(neth) Higgs (born January 14, 1937, Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, England) was an English fast-medium bowler who was most successful as the opening partner to the incomparable Brian Statham with Lancashire in the 1960s. However, Higgs had a long career after Statham disappeared from the scene, playing for two years in the Lancashire League and later becoming the first-choice opening bowler for Leicestershire, having two recalls at age forty-five in 1982 and, amazingly, at forty-nine (remarkable in an era of limited-overs cricket) in 1986.

Days with Leicestershire

After two years in the Lancashire League, Leicestershire called Higgs out of retirement because of Graham McKenzie's expected unavailability. Though McKenzie actually played with Leicestershire until 1975, Higgs gained a regular place and bowled well, though in generally short spells, right up to the end of the 1970s, when in 1979 he was the fifth-highest Englishman in the bowling averages at the age of forty-two. In one-day cricket, Higgs played a crucial role in Leicestershire's 1972 and 1975 successes in the Benson And Hedges Cup, taking 42 wickets in both 1975 and 1977.

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After 1979, Higgs seldom played in first-class cricket, and he retired from one-day cricket after 1982. In 1986, at the amazing age of forty-nine, however, Higgs amazingly took 5 for 22 against Yorkshire but naturally could not play regular cricket at that age.

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