Greenhough first played for Lancashire as early as 1951, after coming from the League club Fieldhouse, but until 1956 he played very little for the first eleven. That season, however, he took 66 wickets for less than eighteen runs apiece, and formed a remarkable trio of spinners with
Roy Tattersall and
Malcolm Hilton. In 1957, however, Greenhough seemed to lack spin and in 1958 played only eight games out of 28 for the first eleven. It was thus a surprise that, in the dry summer of 1959, Greenhough was able to not only displace both Tattersall and Hilton, but even leap into the
Test side against
India. Although he did well even when India's lack of batting prowess was taken into account, Greenhough was soon reported for persistently running down the pitch during his follow-through. Once Greenhough corrected this problem he bowled as well as before. Greenhough's record of 93 wickets in 18 county games suggested that, had he not missed five games correcting his run-up, he might have been the leading wicket-taker in England. In 1960, Greenhough took 111 wickets for Lancashire, and played one Test against
South Africa, but 1961 was wiped out by the first of a succession of finger injuries. Even when he had recovered, he again ran into the problem of lacking spin, despite a few good performances as the only recognised slow bowler in a now-weak county side. Despite more finger trouble keeping him out of the Lancashire side for most of 1964, he was awarded a
benefit that season and showed when he returned that he still had considerable skill. He achieved a career-best seven for 56 against
Worcestershire in the last county match, plus seven for 108 against
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in the previous game. In 1965 Greenhough, though fitter, failed to maintain the promise shown late in 1964, and at the end of July 1966 he was unceremoniously dumped by the county. After being discarded, Greenhough moved back to the South Lancashire League, and was honoured by his original club Fieldhouse with a testimonial in 1977. Greenhough died, aged 77, in September 2009. ==References==