Accrington had sorted free accommodation for Alan Sieler but, back in 1973, transport wasn't part of the deal.

And, the 24 year-old Australian wanted to do a bit of sightseeing while he was in England.

Sieler said: "The bloke I bought the car from was the opening bat. After about a month, coming back from London on the motorway, the motor just blew up. There was oil everywhere. So I had to get it replaced. And, when I sold it, he only gave me what I paid for it: he didn't factor in the new motor."

It wasn't as if Sieler was rolling in dough having insisted on completing a Master of Arts and Diploma of Education before finally accepting the approach from Thorneyholme Road.

"I got the princely sum of 850 pounds," he said: "I didn't bargain very hard, so I think I was probably the lowest-paid pro."

His first taste of English conditions was with the League's other professionals against the county team at Old Trafford.

He added: "The umpire must have had sympathy on me because I let a ball go and it cut back hugely and I was absolutely plumb. He shook his head, and the very good, sporting Lancashire players, you could hear them muttering."

But then it was the culture shock of League cricket on the slope at Church.

He said: "I remember the first game I played, it was absolutely freezing. It was snowing on the nearby hills. We were on the side of a hill, and the wind was just roaring down from northern England or Scotland."

Sieler says it took him some time to get his timing right. He wasn't making big scores, although he took wickets consistently with his medium-pace and left-arm orthodox spin. And the club knew he was fair dinkum off the field.

"I put a fair bit of time at training, particularly in the early part, working with the younger players, trying to improve their game," he added.

One of those lads would go on to play Test cricket and make a double-century against India.

He said: "Graeme Fowler was 16 at the time. Really nice guy. I knew his parents very well. At the time, I wouldn't have picked him to have actually gone on and played cricket for England. I knew he was very keen.

"I think I provided a bit of a role model for him as a left-hand bat. He'd lap up anything that he could learn."

Accrington won just five games, but Sieler himself was within sight of a memorable milestone with one round to go.

"I knew I had to get so many runs to get a 1,000.

"And, I think what happened, I actually got dropped about four runs short of it," he said.

He survived the lofted flat-bat to cover to become just the 42nd man to pass a thousand runs in a season. He topped the League batting aggregates and averages, and also took 56 wickets.

But he didn't return. There wasn't any money in Sheffield Shield cricket, and Sieler had to start thinking about a career.

He said: "The joke was that the guys on the gate got more than us on the Sunday.

"So, in the end, being in two minds, eventually my focus on cricket shifted, my form faded. I lost a bit of enthusiasm."

Which is a pity. Upon his return, he scored a century in each innings of the Shield opener against Queensland, and Victoria won the title that season. His time in Lancashire had been well spent.

"It helped me tighten my technique because the ball seamed so much, and when I came back here, I just found it so much easier to bat. I felt so much more in control of my batting," he said.

But Sieler retired in 1977 after 39 matches in which he scored 1,801 runs and took 41 wickets.

He added: "The one thing I regret about giving up first-class cricket is I wasn't around to play when the Packer series came along."

Baseball had shifted to summer, and he went on to represent Victoria for three years as a pitcher, and still plays masters.

After completing a Masters degree in Geography, he became a full-time teacher, something he'd cut his teeth on for a term at Accrington Secondary Modern.

"I had all the kids who were really at the lower end of the spectrum," he said." Pretty sad in a way because they didn't see a lot of hope in life. But they were pretty interested in me, and I was trying to talk to them and be friends as well as teach them something."

In Australia, he also gravitated to teenagers with learning and behavioural problems.

He said: "What I could see was that the school system didn't cater to the way their brains work.

"So, through some study and some course I'd done, I found a whole different way to teach them and engage with them."

After 22 years in teaching and four as a consultant, Sieler now works in executive coaching, team-building and leadership development, and has just published his second book.

He and his partner of 30 years, Kaye, have a son, Simon, a qualified chef presently backpacking around Europe.