In Syd’s Voice

Martin Chandler | 8:47am BST 22 June 2025

Published: 2025
Pages: 189
Author: Lawrence, David with Wilson, Dean
Publisher: Fairfield Books
Rating: 5 stars

Reading cricket books does sometimes cause me to feel emotional but, or so I would have said before picking up and opening In Syd’s Voice, only because they sometimes trigger memories unrelated to the actual subject matter of the book in hand. As a young child watching my father’s reaction as Derek Underwood bowled England to victory over Australia at the Oval in 1968 is one example that always springs to mind, and another is the look of surprise on my own son’s face as he witnessed my delight, 37 years later, at Mike Kasprowicz’s dismissal at Edgbaston.

But what I read about the life of David Lawrence in In Syd’s Voice had me beginning to tear up on several occasions, and although I did ultimately manage to keep my composure throughout it was touch and go more than once that I might need to briefly put the book down in order to apply a quick dab with a tissue to a rheumy eye.

It doesn’t help that Syd and I are near contemporaries, and indeed he is a little younger than I am. As we all know Syd’s time now is short, but however many more years of good health I may have to come I am never going to manage to pack into my life anything like as much as has gone into Syd’s.

I remember clearly hearing about and then seeing a young Gloucestershire fast bowler in the 1980s. He had a long, long approach to the wicket and bowled with the sort of pace and passion that was rarely generated by England bowlers in those days. Today Syd would have had a central contract and been carefully managed so much so that he might have gone on to enjoy a decent Test career. As it was a man who, looking back, had the sort of bowling action that was always likely to cause serious injury never had the chance to look anything other than promising before that horrible injury in New Zealand ended his international career a fortnight after his 28th birthday.

As it occurred in a Test match Syd’s snapped kneecap was news, so I suppose it wasn’t surprising that one way or other I do recall hearing about the three attempted comebacks, all of which failed but the last of which, five years on, did see him making four more County Championship appearances. I also remember reading that after that he had run a restaurant business and then a night club and that, in his forties and fifties, he had become involved in bodybuilding and enjoyed considerable success at that too.

Entirely fittingly Syd was on the back pages again in 2022 when he was invited to become President of Gloucestershire, an offer he was delighted to accept. And then there was the awful news of Syd’s MND diagnosis, something he made public in April last year. Thanks to men like Rob Burrow and Doddie Weir the general public are now much better informed about the way in which that insidious disease takes lives but, tragically, a cure is still something for the future, and Syd is fading.

Last year, whilst he still had his voice Syd, assisted by long time Daily Mirror cricket correspondent Dean Wilson, put this book together. The result is a remarkable story, superbly written by Wilson but, as the title makes clear, very much its author’s story.

Born and brought up in Gloucester Syd’s affection for and allegiance to the city is one thing that shines through the narrative. Also clear and something that Syd understandably feels strongly about is the racism he has been subjected to over the years, and his almost invariably measured response to that does him great credit. But the most striking aspect of the story is that whilst Syd has every right to feel embittered about the way life has treated him he isn’t. Philosophical yes, reflective yes, but there is no negativity.

The sub title references an extraordinary story and, for once, there is no hyperbole in that. The David Lawrence story is one that should be read by all. It is an important as well as an engrossing read and is accompanied by a superb selection of photographs that must have been chosen with great care. My one ‘complaint’ is that there is no statistical appendix, but that doesn’t alter the fact that In Syd’s Voice is well worth five stars.