An entertainer takes his bow

"Did I entertain you?" asked Brian Lara to the approving roar of the Kensington Oval thousands following his last innings. Darren Lehmann, another true entertainer, could have grabbed a microphone and asked the same of his adoring public in Adelaide last week, when he signed off with two blistering centuries. Instead he grabbed a beer and cigarette.

"My time's up," he says over another cigarette, back at the Adelaide Oval the day after he'd walked away. "It's been a great journey."

He began with a duck, and a wicket from a double bouncer. That was in an under-13 match, aged seven. He fell in love with the game in the summer of 1977-78, watching David Hookes hit five fours in an over off Tony Greig in the Centenary Test.

Hookes went on to be Lehmann's state captain, inspiring his batting and own leadership. "He was adventurous and always played attacking cricket," Lehmann says. "A fair bit of that rubbed off on me as a mentor, a father figure, and the way I liked to play my cricket - always go for the win, draws are a no-go."

Initially, Lehmann was hailed as the "new Bradman", but his journey was nothing like Bradman's. He was prolific domestically, but failed to achieve a long Test career, although he averaged a credible 44.95. He was finally selected at 28, years after being 12th man against Pakistan in 1989-90 - during which time he plundered state runs and was in danger of following Jamie Siddons as another Test nearly man.

That he turned down the Australian Academy as a teenager, on the advice of Hookes and Richie Benaud, was a possible factor, and his freewheeling lifestyle did not suit the regimented program of Bob Simpson, the then national coach. "Hookesy and Richie said: 'Stay where you are, you are already playing for South Australia.' It was more for the blokes who hadn't played. That was the only reason I didn't go." He always did things his own way.

There are no regrets that he played only 27 Tests, and he points out there wasn't a spot up for grabs. "Australia were so dominant. I just had to wait my chance and finally got one and had a good time doing it. I like entertaining people."

The crowds certainly had a good time. A left-hand batsman with an unorthodox style, Lehmann played without inhibition. "When I was younger I was technically very correct, but as you get older you learn different ways to play against different types of bowling. I don't care how I look, it's the results that matter. I always went with my gut feel; just go with the flow, and make sure you enjoy the contest."

Twice he missed significant records because of the desire to entertain. In 2001 he was on 252 for Yorkshire and in sight of his then-highest score of 255, for South Australia in 1996-97. He fell trying to hit a six. "I always get out being smart."

He nearly broke the Yorkshire mark in 2006, his 339 just shy of George Hirst's 341 against Leicestershire in 1905. By then a legend among a famously difficult crowd, he would have been forgiven even for beating a Yorkshireman. But again he went for the six. "You do things as entertainment, I suppose."

He's now passing on his instinctive love of cricket with the Darren Lehmann Academy, which develops English and Dutch players in Adelaide. "Just giving them different ideas, making them learn the game quicker than I did - it took me 37 years."

He concedes there is no longer a place for his approach in the modern game. "Not now, the game's gone so professional. I like to relax and have a beer. I'm probably the last of that old generation. The players now are fantastic to watch. They have all got six packs and they're all muscle-bound. The game just gets better."

He has thought about how to reconcile modern methods with his old-fashioned approach. "My coaching philosophies would probably differ a little bit where IT and the fitness regimes have gone. Sometimes you've got to meet the other way and make sure our cricket skills are right on the money. You have to enjoy the game, and sometimes we don't enjoy the victories as much as we should.

"I would love to coach South Australia, that would be my first choice, obviously, and it could be overseas as well. I'm always in contact with Tim Nielsen, the Australia coach, and there might be some opportunities to do bits and pieces. You just don't close the door on anything."

First he needs some time off - "I'd rather watch these blokes on the hill and relax a little bit" - though he will have one last hurrah in a lucrative beach cricket tournament in January. "It's a bit of fun with the old blokes, and now I'm one of them". He laughs off suggestions of playing Twenty20 in India. "It's too fast a game for me, full stop. You only have to see me walking out on the field. I can't do that anymore."

Besides, he can't better the ending. "To go out on that script of Yorkshire, then South Australia - I mean, that is fairytale sort of stuff, dreams come true." He even took the last wicket in his final club match for Northern Districts.

Lehmann's ride also contained 3078 one-day international runs, 1798 in Tests, two World Cup victories (in 1999, when he hit the winning runs, and 2003, when he took the winning catch), an average of 68.76 for Yorkshire (better than Geoff Boycott's 57.87), and it ended with the most runs in Australian domestic cricket, 14,388, and an average of more than 50 against each state.

What were his other highlights? "The World Cups you cherish. One-day cricket, I had some success with bat and ball [his left-arm slow deliveries were underrated]. I was that floating man from one to six. I enjoyed it, I like entertaining people." He also enjoyed his first Test century, in Trinidad in 2003, breaking Australia's third-wicket record with Ricky Ponting in a stand worth 315, and his 301 in Adelaide against Western Australia in 2005. "Those days just happen very rarely."

Does he have any regrets? "The greatest thing is no, I don't. The only thing is losing a great mate, David Hookes, I can't do much about that. And the Sri Lanka outburst [he was suspended for five ODIs in 2003 after yelling "black ****" in the dressing room]. They're the only things that come to mind."

An entertainer to the last, he departs the game right on cue. "You leave people wanting more, that's the greatest thing."