From terrorising batters to running the coolest club in town
09:56, 24 Jun 2025Updated 10:20, 24 Jun 2025
Gloucester cricket legend David ‘Syd’ Lawrence (Picture: Gloucestershire CC)
For many, David Lawrence was the all-action fast bowler who skittled out batters for dinner, for others he was the ebullient and generous host who loved his music, dancing and socialising.
But for most in Bristol, he was simply Syd, the city’s own larger-than-life character who led something of a double life: On the cricket pitch with a ball in his hand, he was a fearsome prospect.
Off the field he was a gentle giant, full of love, heart and a great passion for life.
The death of David Lawrence at the age of just 61, taken from the city and the world so soon after the devastating diagnosis of motor neurone disease, has prompted sadness, shock and tributes from across the city, the country and the cricketing world.
Since he went public with his diagnosis, almost exactly a year ago, it has been hard.
Never one to sugar-coat anything, Syd made it clear he had the quick-acting brand of this terrible disease, and his regular public appearances were a gut-wrenching illustration of how horrible motor neurone disease is, as it robbed this powerful, physical presence of his mobility, then his voice. It felt like it all happened far too quickly.
David Lawrence’s life was one full of moments, and even in a wheelchair he was able to provide us with many more, as he bravely battled on this past year.
There was the moment in Birmingham just last September when Gloucestershire’s wicket keeping captain James Bracey clambered over the walls into a spectator area with the county’s first T20 trophy, to present it to Syd, as the club’s president.
It was such an emotional moment, both were reduced to tears of pride and joy, but also heartache as the significance of the moment and Syd’s ongoing decline were increasingly evident.
James Bracey of Gloucestershire interacts with Syd Lawrence and the T20 Vitality Blast Trophy following the T20 Vitality Blast Final match between Somerset and Gloucestershire at Edgbaston on September 14, 2024 in Birmingham, England. (Image: Getty Images)
Motor Neurone is a cruel and callous disease and to remember Syd as a diminishing presence in this last year would not do justice to a man who lived his life not just to the full but to overflowing.
Born and raised in Gloucester, once he started to be coached in his teens on how to direct a cricket ball more accurately, he was a force to be reckoned with.
He burst into the Gloucestershire side at just 17 and a couple of summers later, a young Courtney Walsh joined from Jamaica. Walsh was just over a year older, taller and with a smooth relaxed delivery style.
The pair became close friends off the pitch, and on it became the fastest and most feared opening bowlers in English cricket.
READ MORE: Former England cricketer opens up about ‘race against the clock’READ MORE: Former England bowler David Lawrence dies aged 61 after MND battle
If the batters survived Walsh’s rapid, laser-like deliveries at one end, they’d have Syd coming in from the other. Watching the pair of them in tandem was like watching poetry at times. Walsh’s silky bullet train in partnership with Syd’s very different style.
Lawrence became known as having the longest run-up in cricket. Many coaches suggested he cut it short, but he couldn’t.
He’d start somewhere near the sight-screen, and begin slowly, building up a head of steam. The last five or six strides were a blur of arms and legs, like a one-man bar-room brawl in an Andy Capp cartoon.
A slight feint to the right would take him behind the umpire a bit, before he’d appear before the batsman and launch himself square on at the crease, arms raised.
The batter knew it was coming but often could do little about it, as the ball arrowed from this blur towards his stumps or worse, off the pitch towards his head.
Five Gloucestershire players capped by their county, at the end of the 1985 season – left to right, Jeremy Lloyds, Brian Davidson, Kevin Curran, David Lawrence and Courtney Walsh. Photo taken on September 5, 1985.(Image: PA)
He had been on a youthful England B tour of Sri Lanka in the winter he turned 21, but was criminally overlooked by the England selectors.
Perhaps his unorthodox style didn’t sit well with the traditionalists picking the England team, perhaps they never trusted him to be able to spearhead the attack without his sidekick big brother Courtney Walsh alongside him.
He finally broke into the England team in 1988, at the age of 24, and that made him a pioneer of the game. He was the first British-born black cricketer to play for England. It would seem a one-off for a few more years, it wasn’t until 1991, when he was 27, that the clamour from Bristol and the rest of the county game to bring Syd back into an England team that was being battered around by the West Indies and Australia, became irresistible.
He proved the difference, taking a five-for at the Oval to help England level the series and produced another Syd moment: It was the great Sir Viv Richards’ last series with the West Indies, and Syd had the honour of being the last bowler to take his wicket in test cricket.
David ‘Syd’ Lawrence in full flow for England, making his Test debut – August 25, 1988.(Image: PA)
Finally, he had established himself in the England side. He went on the winter tour of New Zealand. Just a few weeks after turning 28, and in his prime, came another – far more tragic – Syd moment.
On February 10, 1992, New Zealand were going through the motions at the end of the fifth day, the match was ending in a draw and there was nothing to play for. But Syd was thrown the ball, and steamed into the wicket with his usual exuberance.
But this time, that massive planted leg on the delivery stride buckled, as his kneecap shattered. Those there said the noise it made could be heard from the boundary.
It effectively ended his career in cricket. There were attempts at a comeback but the knee gave way again and he threw his life into weightlifting and his love of entertaining, partying and music.
For a while he opened and ran a bar and restaurant on Whiteladies Road in Bristol called Boom, and also, for more than 25 years, the famous Bristol nightclub Dojo.
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It was, for a long time, one of the coolest places to go in the first years of the 21st century.
Junior Saunders remembered getting a job there despite having no experience working behind a bar and aged just 18. “I was full of mad confidence, Syd smiled and said ‘OK you can start tonight, have you got any experience?’” Junior said.
“I said ‘nah man, but I can chat’. He smiled again and said ‘cool’. When we were getting into the flow of the bar shift, Syd would come on the bar to just be proud, speak to his guests and completely change everything that we were doing,” he added.
For the next generation of young Bristolians, too young to remember the 80s version of Syd ripping up the cricket world, this was how they knew David Lawrence – sitting on a high stool in the corner of the bar, overlooking a very packed, hot and sweaty dancefloor, with a glass in his hand, just enjoying, watching and supervising.
“If Syd didn’t like you, you would know about it big time, but if he did, you also knew about it too,” added Junior.
“The last time I saw him was a few years ago at Dojos and as soon as he saw me, I felt the love. He couldn’t do anything more for me – free entry, drinks, the lot.
“It’s like he knew that was the last time I was going to see him. He was definitely an energy and he will be missed,” added Junior.
Into his 50s, he became an establishment Bristol figure. He’d complain about cycle lanes in the Clifton Triangle area like many other local business owners and, after opening up about the racism he faced in those early days at Gloucestershire in the 1980s, he received an apology from the cricket club.
Within months he was Gloucestershire CCC’s president, and proudly represented his Gloucestershire once again. He was then instrumental in bringing in a new era of rapprochement, acceptance and bridge-building between the Nevil Road cricket club and the city’s black community.
In 2022, he spearheaded initiatives to put his beloved Glos at the heart of the community in Bristol – including this one which had the stadium set up as a foodbank hub.
Gloucestershire Cricket club president and ex-player David “Syd” Lawrence loading 25 crates of food onto an Autolyne van(Image: Gloucestershire Cricket)
In the past year, his decline was matched in reverse by a steady outpouring of love for Syd. It was in the many charity events organised to raise money and awareness on Motor Neurone Disease – both on the cricket pitch, and also in Bristol’s nightlife scene.
Since his passing, people from across the cricketing world have paid tribute to Syd. Many had gathered earlier this month for a charity match, which saw Courtney Walsh reunited with his old bowling partner.
Phil Tufnell said Syd was a ‘sight to behold’ when bowling. “He was a great man, Syd, a fierce competitor,” he told Test Match Special.
“He was a great friend of mine. He was a sight to behold, coming in with the ball in hand: a great big fella, all arms and legs and determination.
“He was a very intimidating sight but with a very soft, warm heart. He had a great sense of humour. He would literally walk into a room and just fill the room with smiles and laughter and stories. He always sort of looked after the underdog. God, he got me out of a few scrapes!”
Former England batter Mark Butcher, who faced Syd during his comeback attempt, said he was still a fierce bowler.
“He was a big bear of a man, a full throttle individual who wore his heart on his sleeve,” he said. “He was so proud to have represented England. Every time you met him there was genuine warmth there. To see the way things ended up for him was incredibly sad,” he added.
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