Enormously popular with the Lancashire crowd thanks to his uncomplicated batting style and equally old-fashioned waistline, his most successful period came towards the end of his career.
In 1998, he helped his county to both NatWest Trophy and Sunday League success, winning the man of the match award in the final of the former.
Austin played no first-class cricket after early June 2001, but continued to appear in some one-day games for another year.
[2] Austin is one of few players to have won the man of the match award in a final of both the NatWest Trophy and the Benson and Hedges Cup,[3] having achieved the latter in 1996.
[4] After some appearances for Cumberland in 2002, and participating in the Lancashire League's Worsley Cup final the following year, Austin retired from first-class cricket at the end of the 2003 season.