He played 49 Tests for England, taking 174 wickets at 25.58, often in tandem with fellow Surrey Spinner Jim Laker. In his first class career for Surrey, England, Leicestershire and Western Australia, he broke many all-time fielding and bowing records. Lock's 831 catches, for example, place him 3rd on the all time list of first class catches in the outfield.

Tony's Father Fred was for many years the Groundsman and fast bowler for Limpsfield Cricket Club . Two of his Brothers (who would have been Tony's Uncles) are named on the Limpsfield War Memorial, having fallen in the Great War. Alan Hill, in his book "Aggressive Master of Spin" reports that Fred Lock announced to fellow Cricketer's on the occasion of Tony's birth that "we had a son yesterday and he's going to play for England !".

Lock was a pupil at Limpsfield Junior school (back row, third from left in this 1939 photo) where he was schooled by Limpsfield CC stalwart and wartime Headmaster LP Moulding, whom Lock credits in his Autobiography with encouraging his skills and also introducing him to HDG Leveson-Gower of the Titsey Estate - a former England and Surrey Selector.

In the immediate post war years Limpsfield did not play on Sundays and the enthusiastic Lock began to turn out for Oxted, even after his Test career was well established.

Our own Ted Rose writes the following of Lock :

Tony Lock was a fanatic really. For a start, just think of him bowling at the other end when Laker took those 19 Australian wickets, bowling faster and faster and spinning it harder and harder. How on earth did he only get one wicket? ( [Ted Rose here is referring here to the Old Trafford Test in 1956 a certain Jim Laker, also of Surrey, took 19 wickets in one of the most famous Ashes performances of all time, whilst Tony Lock took "the other one".]

When Tony Lock left Surrey, he captained Leicestershire for a couple of seasons. They had never won the county championship, but in his second year they played Kent at Canterbury in their final match. 3 days in those days, with a rest day on Sundays. If they won and (the eventual champions) lost, Leicestershire would be County champions for the first time in their history.

Locky came up to the Legion on the Saturday evening for a pint. One of our Sunday team phoned to say he’d broken a finger: “I’ll play!” said Locky. “Don’t be daft,” I said, “What if you twisted an ankle in one of our rabbit scrapes? It could cost you the Championship.”
“I’ve played out there hundreds of times. I’ll be perfectly ok.”

“Locky,” I said, “You are NOT selected.” What an extraordinary thing for anyone to have said!!

When he had moved to Australia, he came back on holiday and dropped in on a Saturday evening. Naturally, we were talking about left arm spin as we had Charlie Davies (Kent 2nd), David Reynolds, Pat Goodson, Giles Cheatle (Sussex and Surrey) and Archie Cotterell (Cambridge Univ., 3 blues) around at the time, all useful left armers.

Locky offered to hold a clinic for them, so, Sunday morning at 11.00 before the cricket started, there he was on the square with a wicket keeper, a batsman and several on-lookers sharing his wisdom. What a treat.

Interestingly, instead of bowling from somewhere about the return crease and spinning it ferociously in his Surrey days, he had become Western Australia’s leading wicket taker by bowling slower and delivering with his bum almost touching the stumps.