David Lawrence loved to dance. As a teenager he would move to northern soul, hitching his way from Gloucester to Wigan Casino, a change of clothes in the bag, life beginning at midnight. Then came his time as a powerful fast bowler with Gloucestershire, where he was bestowed the nickname Syd, his reward an England debut against Sri Lanka at Lord\u2019s in 1988.<\/p>\n
He took a five-wicket haul in August 1991 against West Indies at the Oval, the ground he had visited as a 12-year-old to see Michael Holding fly and where he recognised that this would be his calling, too. Less than six months later, playing his fifth Test, Lawrence thundered through the crease in Wellington and snapped a kneecap. A crack and haunting shriek spelled the end of his career. He was 28.<\/p>\n
David Lawrence made a short-lived county comeback in 1997. Photograph: PA Images\/Alamy<\/p>\n
There was a short-lived county comeback in 1997, and Lawrence remained a man on the move. As a hands-on nightclub owner in Bristol he would do his own doors, fitting for someone who also found joy in middle age as a bodybuilder. But horror came in June 2024 after months of uncertainty, with his legs failing him after knee replacement surgery the previous year. Lawrence was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, a terminal, unrelenting condition that leads to muscles wasting away. \u201cWith those three words my heart hit the floor and then it seemed like my body fell with it,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n
The words come from his autobiography, In Syd\u2019s Voice, published this month and written with the help of Dean Wilson, previously the Daily Mirror\u2019s cricket correspondent. The pair had begun discussing a book in 2022 but the disease prompted action, with Lawrence recognising he would soon lose the ability to speak.<\/p>\n
Wilson initially wondered if Lawrence still wanted to tell his story after the diagnosis, perhaps wanting to keep his situation private. \u201cI was waiting to be guided by him,\u201d says Wilson. \u201cI was just chatting to him as a friend, offering him some support, someone to talk to. Until we got to the point in August, maybe September where he said: \u2018Right, I want to do this, let\u2019s get writing, we haven\u2019t got much time anymore. I\u2019m going to lose my voice, I know it\u2019s coming, and I want to get my story out there.\u2019 From that point on it really was a race to get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pair spoke from September through to December for the book. \u201cThe last interview I did with him for it was early December and his voice is really, really weak, lots of gaps between words, really difficult to make out what he was saying. By that stage, I felt we\u2019d got enough material for the book. It was getting too hard for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Lawrence\u2019s voice still carries through each page. One of the first Black cricketers to play for England, he details how quickly racism entered his life and playing career. There was the banana skin left outside his hotel room door by a teammate when he was playing for Gloucestershire\u2019s second team, leading to tears, loneliness and a decision to bulk up in the gym. \u201cPeople would have to think twice about coming for me because there might just be something stronger coming back in their direction,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n
There was the murkiness of English cricket in the 80s as players became rebel tourists of apartheid South Africa. The touring party in early 1990 included player-manager David Graveney, who had captained Lawrence at Gloucestershire. \u201cHe never said a word about what he was up to, which was bitterly disappointing,\u201d writes Lawrence. \u201cMaybe he knew that I would have told him how awful I thought it was to try to normalise cricket in a country that wasn\u2019t normal.\u201d<\/p>\n
David Lawrence was a powerful fast bowler for Gloucestershire. Photograph: Bob Thomas\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The paradox is that this was the period in which Black representation within the England men\u2019s side peaked, Lawrence\u2019s international career overlapping with Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small and Chris Lewis. \u201cIn those days, it sort of seemed and felt quite normal,\u201d says Wilson. \u201cIt didn\u2019t seem like it was an unusual thing for Black people to be really successful at cricket and playing for England.\u201d Black communities in the game would be pushed away in subsequent years, an issue that has only recently begun to attract attention and action.<\/p>\n
Gloucestershire apologised to Lawrence in 2021 after he spoke about his experiences with racism, and he was named club president the following year. He was present for the county\u2019s victory at T20 Blast finals day<\/a> last September, confined to his wheelchair but still part of the celebrations, tearful as James Bracey passed him the trophy, the pictures taken deeply affecting.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Lawrence is vivid in describing his deterioration. The struggle to swallow, the dream he has every night about walking, how he uses his eyes to speak through a computer. He explains how time is no healer in this fight. \u201cI\u2019ve definitely not cried over anything professionally as much as this,\u201d says Wilson.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day is a battle just to want to carry on,\u201d says Lawrence\u2019s son, Buster, who moved his wedding forward last year so David could speak at it. \u201cI don\u2019t know how he does it some days but that\u2019s just him. He hasn\u2019t got much quit in him. It\u2019s sad and amazing to see the bravery he\u2019s showing.\u201d<\/p>\n