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Syd Lawrence 'was very fast, very quick ... a mean bowler!'

David Garmston
BBC Points West Lead Presenter
BBC A composite image of Syd Lawrence. On the left, an old black and white image of him mid-bowl with the wicket and crease in front of him. On the right, a more recent colour image of him smiling into camera. He's wearing a cream-coloured woollen top and white shirt.BBC

The cricket world is saying goodbye to David "Syd" Lawrence MBE, the first British-born black cricketer to represent England, who died in June.

The 61-year-old, from Gloucester, had recently been appointed an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours in recognition of his services to cricket, something he was "incredibly proud" of.

David Garmston talks to one of his early mentors and friends to discuss Syd's legacy.

Guy Reid-Bailey's eyes moistened as he remembers his old friend the former England cricketer David 'Syd' Lawrence who has died from Motor Neurone Disease.

The pair met when Syd's parents brought him to Bristol as a teenager because they were worried that he might fall in with the wrong crowd in his home city of Gloucester.

Guy, from the Bristol West Indies Cricket Club, took young Syd in hand.

"He needed a mentor. He needed someone he could look up to. And I was always there for him.

"He played cricket in the way it should be played. He listened, he learned, and he did it."

Guy Reid-Bailey in a blue shirt, black trousers and a cap holds a cricket bat with David Garmston, in a blue suit jacket, light trousers and a shirt a tie, stands behind them. They are both on a cricket pitch.
Guy Reid-Bailey remembers Syd fondly

Dr Guy Reid-Bailey OBE turned 80 the day before Syd's funeral. When they first met Guy was already known in Bristol as a civil rights campaigner and one of the instigators of the Bristol Bus Boycott which changed race relations in Britain for ever.

Cricket is still Guy's passion and when we met at his club in Easton he discarded his walking stick, took up a bat and gleefully knocked some balls around with me.

"I remember when we were playing at Oldland Common. I saw Syd hit one of the biggest sixes there ever was.

"At the end of the field there was a light pole. He said, 'I am going to hit the ball over there'. He did. He scored a hundred in that match. His first hundred as a batsman."

He chuckles.

"He was a mean player to the opposition," he adds.

Guy Reid-Bailey, in a blue shirt and dark blue cap, looks into camera. He is on the edge of a cricket pitch.
Guy Reid-Bailey took a young Syd in, and looked after him when he moved from Gloucester to Bristol

"When he was running in they could tell what was coming. Can you imagine someone coming at you at ninety miles an hour when you are playing in league cricket?"

David Lawrence - nicknamed Syd - was the first British born black player to be selected for England.

Sadly, his career was cut short by a terrible knee injury while on tour in New Zealand. Guy believes that event changed the course of cricket history.

"He would have become one of the world's finest fast bowlers," Guy says.

The two men remained life-long friends.

When they made Syd President of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, Guy was his Vice President.

"A lot of young black players did see him as an example for them to become good players, not to play for the county or England, but to play league cricket in the west of England."

He added fondly: "I only wish Syd's family the best right now because he made us all very proud."

With those words Guy walked away from the wicket clearly in deep thought.

The two men were soulmates and in Guy, David Lawrence had found someone who believed in him.

Syd Lawrence's funeral will take place in Bristol on Friday.

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