Lightfoot was signed principally as a medium-fast bowler, but he soon emerged as a talented left-handed batsman, with his breakthrough being a maiden century against Surrey at The Oval in 1958, when he helped Raman Subba Row add a record-breaking 376 for the sixth wicket.
Against Richie Benaud's 1961 Australians, Northamptonshire mounted a spirited challenge after being left to score 198 for victory in two and a half hours, and Lightfoot's gallant half-century helped reduce the target to four runs off the final over.
Alan Davidson bowled to Malcolm Scott who missed, but set off for a bye to acting wicketkeeper Bobby Simpson; Lightfoot, inexplicably, stayed put at the non-striker's end, Scott was run out, and Australia escaped with a draw.
[3][4] It is possible that Lightfoot stayed in the team at times when his batting average drooped due to his ability to 'bowl a bit'.
Despite such droops, particularly in the mid-1960s, he managed some very productive batting seasons, especially 1962 when he scored 1,795 runs for Northamptonshire including five hundreds.