Lancashire Spin Magazine Autumn 2023

will open and we’ll start
winning a few more.”
We will get onto the 38-yearold’s
personal statistics with
bat and gloves. They are
exceptional. But in keeping
with Vilas’s attitude and
mentality, we will concentrate
on the team first. That is
exactly what the six-Test
former Proteas star always did.
“I could have gone on one
or two more years, but I
wanted to give it 100 percent,
and I felt like this was the
last year I could really do
that for the team,” he said
of his decision to leave
Lancashire and return home
to South Africa, where he will
continue to play T20 cricket.
“And you never want to be in a
position where you can’t give
it your maximum because the
team and club deserve that.
“The timing of it for myself and
my family, wanting to be at
home a bit more and spend
some time with them is the
main thing. But I also wanted
to leave the club and county
cricket on a high when I’m
still enjoying it and loving it.”
He continued: “With the
captaincy, my mantra was
always to try and lead from
the front. I would never be in
a position where I would ask
someone to do something
that I wouldn’t do myself.
“I wouldn’t expect a standard
from someone when I
wasn’t pulling my weight.
The most important thing
for me was to go above
and beyond and try and
drag a couple of people
with me. Most of the time,
the guys excelled and
outshone everything
that I did just because
of their work ethic.
“As a captain, people would
look to you. If they can see
that you are putting it in, you
give 100 percent, you’re
putting and you’re authentic
and trustworthy in everything
you do, that goes a long way.
“It was great to represent
Lancs, but also to be
captain of the club was
an amazing privilege.”
Vilas leaves the club with a
fabulous personal record.
He scored 7,393 runs across
all formats (4,438 first-class,
1,494 T20 and 1,461 in List
A) from 211 appearances. He
posted 14 hundreds, including
a trio of double centuries.
One of those doubles
was a career best 266 in
a win over Glamorgan at
Colwyn Bay in 2019 when
Lancashire won the Division
Two title and promotion.
Either behind the stumps or
in the outfield, Vilas claimed
239 catches
and stumpings
combined.
“I always
wanted to
come and play
county cricket,”
he said, rewinding
right back to when he first
walked through the doors
at Emirates Old Trafford.
“Some of the heroes I
grew up watching played
county cricket. Even some
of the guys I played with
in South Africa, when I
would go in the indoor
nets in the winter, they
were coming here to hone
their skills and get the
best out of themselves. I
always wanted to do that.
28 SPIN AUTUMN 2023