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’s in 1988.
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.
