Dave ‘Syd' Lawrence, ex-England and Gloucestershire bowler, dies aged 61
Almost a year to the day that Rob Burrow was commemorated with a tribute match at Leeds Rhinos, the rugby league club that abuts this most famous of cricket grounds, those at Headingley for the opening Test against India and the wider game remembered Dave 'Syd' Lawrence, the first British-born black cricketer to play for England, who has also died of motor neurone disease (MND).
This terrible illness cut short the remarkable Burrow's life, and now that of Lawrence, who was diagnosed a year ago and who passed away over the weekend. The game will take his death particularly hard; he was fine, fast bowler for Gloucestershire and England, a determined, spirited and popular opponent and team-mate, a trailblazer for black Britons and, at 61 years old, is gone too soon.
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