Former England paceman David ‘Syd' Lawrence dies at 61 after MND battle

While England were battling against India at Headingley under a sunny sky, the news of the death of their former fast bowler David Lawrence, at the age of 61, filtered through. England wore black armbands on day one of this opening Test to commemorate the Ahmedabad plane crash, and will have to wear them again.
Few photographs in cricket are more affecting than one taken last September after Gloucestershire, Lawrence's county, had won the T20 Blast at Edgbaston on finals day. Crippled by a suddenly cruel version of motor neurone disease, Lawrence, the county's president, was already confined to a specially-made wheelchair, and as the trophy was proudly shown to him by James Bracey, tears were impossible to withhold.
The cruel irony was that Lawrence, in the prime of his playing days, had probably the longest and most zestful run-up in the whole of professional cricket. He would start near the sightscreen and build up pace like a steam engine, pistons pumping, trying to seize the land-speed record from the City of Truro. A mighty physique, one that went on to win bodybuilding prizes after his cricket career was terminated with no less cruelty. 'The big man upstairs is not a Gloucester fan,' Lawrence was driven to say.
Of Jamaican ancestry, Lawrence came from Gloucester and was therefore the first black cricketer born in Britain to represent England. In his wheelchair, he dictated an autobiography which was published shortly before his death, in which he paid tribute to Gloucestershire's former captain then chief executive Tony Brown, for guiding him towards the straight and narrow. He drove him down to Taunton for mentoring by Sir Vivian Richards as he is now; it was Richards who spelt out the historic opportunity for Lawrence.
In the 1980s, Courtney Walsh and Lawrence formed the fastest pair of opening bowlers in county cricket. They weren't too bad on a slow pitch at Nevil Road in Bristol, but on a hard, sun-baked outground of a pitch at Cheltenham in July or August they could be ferocious.
The pace & power of David 'Syd' Lawrence 👀 #GoGlos 💛🖤 #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/bt8VDsp8cl
— Gloucestershire Cricket 🏆 (@Gloscricket) October 28, 2021
As raw pace is such a rarity, Lawrence might have been selected sooner than the one-off Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's in 1988; or at any rate he should not have waited until 1991 before he was recalled for his second Test. He took 10 wickets in his two Tests against West Indies that summer, when they were still the world Test champions in all but official name. The Oval Test was the last in the career of Richards, and Lawrence dismissed him for 60 in his final innings.
Lawrence had to be selected for the tour of New Zealand that winter. The Wellington Test was petering out into a sterile draw when Lawrence marked out his run-up from the pavilion end in New Zealand's second innings. One might have wondered why he was allowed to bowl at all. In New Zealand's first innings he had delivered 27 overs, which was more than England's other three non-spinners combined. In these days of data and duty of care, he would have been considered to be in the red zone, where he was liable to physical injury if he kept bowling.
A crack like a pistol-shot rang round the Basin Reserve, followed by screams of pain. Lawrence had broken his left kneecap. It was a major operation in itself to ferry him from the field. His Test career, after only five Tests and 18 wickets, was over.
While he was recovering back in England, Lawrence, or 'Syd', went to the nets at Nevil Road. He could walk again but not run, and he could not resist picking up a ball and walking up to the bowling crease, and his first ball back after breaking his kneecap whistled through as normal: the pace was still there. But he would not consider returning to a county career with a run-up of three or four paces. This is all that India's fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah takes in effect, after a couple of stutters and strides, but these are different and less conventional times.
A brief comeback for Gloucestershire in 1997 led nowhere. He opened a nightclub in Bristol and channelled his energies into bodybuilding. He was delighted to become Gloucestershire's president, the first non-white cricketer to be accorded the honour by a county, and he had the surrogate pleasure of watching his son Buster enjoy a professional rugby career. Until a minor injury was diagnosed as something far more serious.
Soon Lawrence could not walk. Soon he could not talk. The cricket community rallied round to fundraise and earlier this month a match was played for him at Downend CC, attended by his former opening partner Walsh. Another mighty physique had played on the ground, WG Grace. Lawrence attended too, but only just.
''Syd' was an inspirational figure on and off the cricket field and no more so than to his family who were with him when he passed,' a family statement said.
'A proud Gloucestershire man, Syd took on every challenge with everything he could and his final contest with MND was no different. His willingness to encourage and think of others right up to the end was typical of the man he was.'
Last month, he was awarded an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours List. Few recipients can have gone through so much pain to win the honour.

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