I was sad to hear the news that David ‘Syd’ Lawrence, the former Gloucestershire and England cricketer, had passed away in June after a brave battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

Syd is one of the personalities featured in my book ‘100 Gloucester Characters’, with Matt Cass. Although I didn’t know him personally, I remember Syd as part of the great Gloucestershire bowling line-up of the 1980s and 1990s alongside Courtney Walsh and Kevin Curran. In particular, I recall watching him at the Gloucester Cricket Festival when it took place at the Winget Ground on Tuffley Avenue.

Born in Gloucester in January 1964 to Jamaican parents who arrived in the UK as part of the Windrush movement in the 1950s, he was brought up in the Tredworth area of the city and attended Calton Junior School and Linden Secondary School.

‘Syd’ played for the county between 1981 and 1997

By the age of 17 he was playing for Gloucestershire. He was named the 1985 Cricket Writers’ Club Young Cricketer of the Year. His nickname, ‘Syd’, is believed to be taken from the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. He played for the county between 1981 and 1997, picking up 625 wickets.

He was the first British-born black player to play for England, featuring in five tests and a single One Day International for his country. He surely would have played many more times for England had he not suffered an horrific knee injury in 1992. He holds the distinction of being the last bowler to dismiss the legendary West Indian batsman Sir Viv Richards in Test cricket.

Later, he made a career for himself in bodybuilding, becoming the National Amateur Bodybuilders’ Association’s West of England champion for the over-40s twice and the over-50s once. For many years, he ran the Dojo nightclub in Bristol. He was elected as the first black president of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in 2022.

He was awarded the MBE in the recent King’s Birthday Honours and, shortly before his passing, published a book about his life in cricket and his journey with MND, entitled ‘In Syd’s Voice’.

RIP Syd, a truly great Gloucester character.