Latest news with #DeanWilson
Al Etihad
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Al Etihad
Arenacross World Tour Finals to take Abu Dhabi motocross fans on a wild ride
29 June 2025 23:40 ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)It's the most thrilling thing on two wheels and its roaring into Abu Dhabi this Arenacross World Tour Finals, presented by PKE, is being staged on Saturday, July 5, at Etihad Arena, which has been filled with sand for the live indoor racing and freestyling motocross buckle up and brace yourself for snarling engines, gravity-defying jumps, and jaw-dropping stunts. It's a high-octane spectacle packed with flames, pyrotechnics and a heart-pumping soundtrack - fun for petrolheads of all out for Dean Wilson, the Scottish superstar and Arenacross front-runner, who's known for his daredevil be going up against top riders like 2023 Arenacross champion Tommy Searle, French freestyle star Cedric Soubeyras and history-making Jack Brunell – the first-ever pro motocross champ on an electric line-up also includes legends like Thomas Ramette, Adrien Escoffier, Conrad Mewse, Joan Cros, Adam Chatfield and Matt Bayliss, making this a final you won't want to miss.A day ahead of "the greatest motocross show on the planet", there will be a free Powersports Fanzone, for ticket holders, where you can explore the world of powersports, meet pro riders and get autographs. An Arenacross ticket automatically enters you to win a brand-new Husqvarna 85TC motocross bike, worth of Dh25,000. Winner will be announced live at the show.
The Guardian
18-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
David ‘Syd' Lawrence's brave race against time to tell his remarkable story
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. 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. 'With those three words my heart hit the floor and then it seemed like my body fell with it,' he writes. The words come from his autobiography, In Syd's Voice, published this month and written with the help of Dean Wilson, previously the Daily Mirror's 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. Wilson initially wondered if Lawrence still wanted to tell his story after the diagnosis, perhaps wanting to keep his battle private. 'I was waiting to be guided by him,' says Wilson. 'I 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: 'Right, I want to do this, let's get writing, we haven't got much time anymore. I'm going to lose my voice, I know it's coming, and I want to get my story out there.' From that point on it really was a race to get it done.' The pair spoke from September through to December for the book. 'The 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'd got enough material for the book. It was getting too hard for him.' But Lawrence's 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's second team, leading to tears, loneliness and a decision to bulk up in the gym. 'People would have to think twice about coming for me because there might just be something stronger coming back in their direction,' he writes. 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. 'He never said a word about what he was up to, which was bitterly disappointing,' writes Lawrence. 'Maybe he knew that I would have told him how awful I thought it was to try to normalise cricket in a country that wasn't normal.' The paradox is that this was the period in which Black representation within the England men's side peaked, Lawrence's international career overlapping with Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small and Chris Lewis. 'In those days, it sort of seemed and felt quite normal,' says Wilson. 'It didn't seem like it was an unusual thing for Black people to be really successful at cricket and playing for England.' Black communities in the game would be pushed away in subsequent years, an issue that has only recently begun to attract attention and action. Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion 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's victory at T20 Blast finals day 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. 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. 'I've definitely not cried over anything professionally as much as this,' says Wilson. 'Every day is a battle just to want to carry on,' says Lawrence's son, Buster, who moved his wedding forward last year so David could speak at it. 'I don't know how he does it some days but that's just him. He hasn't got much quit in him. It's sad and amazing to see the bravery he's showing.' In Syd's Voice - The Extraordinary Life of Dave Lawrence is out now and available at A minimum of £0.50, evenly split between the MND Association and the Cricketers' Trust, will be donated for every copy sold. This is an extract from the Guardian's weekly cricket email, The Spin. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
David ‘Syd' Lawrence's brave race against time to tell his remarkable story
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. Advertisement 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. 'With those three words my heart hit the floor and then it seemed like my body fell with it,' he writes. The words come from his autobiography, In Syd's Voice, published this month and written with the help of Dean Wilson, previously the Daily Mirror's 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. Wilson initially wondered if Lawrence still wanted to tell his story after the diagnosis, perhaps wanting to keep his battle private. 'I was waiting to be guided by him,' says Wilson. 'I 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: 'Right, I want to do this, let's get writing, we haven't got much time anymore. I'm going to lose my voice, I know it's coming, and I want to get my story out there.' From that point on it really was a race to get it done.' The pair spoke from September through to December for the book. 'The 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'd got enough material for the book. It was getting too hard for him.' With those three words my heart hit the floor and then it seemed like my body fell with it Advertisement But Lawrence's 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's second team, leading to tears, loneliness and a decision to bulk up in the gym. 'People would have to think twice about coming for me because there might just be something stronger coming back in their direction,' he writes. 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. 'He never said a word about what he was up to, which was bitterly disappointing,' writes Lawrence. 'Maybe he knew that I would have told him how awful I thought it was to try to normalise cricket in a country that wasn't normal.' The paradox is that this was the period in which Black representation within the England men's side peaked, Lawrence's international career overlapping with Devon Malcolm, Gladstone Small and Chris Lewis. 'In those days, it sort of seemed and felt quite normal,' says Wilson. 'It didn't seem like it was an unusual thing for Black people to be really successful at cricket and playing for England.' Black communities in the game would be pushed away in subsequent years, an issue that has only recently begun to attract attention and action. 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's victory at T20 Blast finals day 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. Advertisement 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. 'I've definitely not cried over anything professionally as much as this,' says Wilson. 'Every day is a battle just to want to carry on,' says Lawrence's son, Buster, who moved his wedding forward last year so David could speak at it. 'I don't know how he does it some days but that's just him. He hasn't got much quit in him. It's sad and amazing to see the bravery he's showing.' In Syd's Voice - The Extraordinary Life of Dave Lawrence is out now and available at A minimum of £0.50, evenly split between the MND Association and the Cricketers' Trust, will be donated for every copy sold. Chokers no more Thank you, Mitchell Starc. Having purchased day-four tickets for the World Test Championship final, I was beginning to consider other plans until Starc and Josh Hazlewood held on for a last-wicket stand worth 59 runs, helping drag the contest into the weekend. Sat in the Mound Stand, I won't ever forget that Saturday morning: South African supporters in every corner, their nerves spreading to Kyle Verreynne as he tried to scoop the winning runs, and the end of a decades-long narrative. You can't call them chokers anymore. Advertisement The World Test Championship remains an imperfect product with its confusing points system and imbalanced fixture list but it has now produced three different winners, two residing outside the Big Three. It also serves as a way to crown the legacies of cricketers victim to an inequitable system. Take Kagiso Rabada, undoubtedly one of the greats, but never afforded the opportunity to play a five-Test series, unable to spell his greatness out across a tour the way Jasprit Bumrah did in Australia at the turn of the year. It's also been five and half years since South Africa's last four-Test series. A grand finale offers some compensation, Rabada's nine wickets at Lord's to feature in the headlines when he eventually wraps up. Quote of the week We honour those before us, to those that are here, and to those that have come, we love you, appreciate you, and continue supporting us' – South Africa's Keshav Maharaj was very emotional in the immediate aftermath of victory. This Dale Steyn clip will leave you in bits, too. Memory lane With India due to launch England's Test summer at Headingley, let's cast back to 2014 and early exchanges of the five-Test series the hosts claimed 3-1. The standout from the drawn opener at Trent Bridge was Jimmy Anderson and Joe Root's landmark 198-run partnership, the highest for the 10th wicket in Tests. That surpassed Australia's Ashton Agar and Phil Hughes's 98 at the start of the 2013 home Ashes. Still want more? Sachin Tendulkar and Jimmy Anderson were two master craftsmen that gave more to Test cricket than most, writes Andy Bull. Advertisement The ICC is ready to back WTC four-day Tests in a boost for smaller nations, reports Matt Hughes. And Temba Bavuma's brave team made a giant leap forward for South African Test cricket with their victory against Australia, writes Andy Bull.
BBC News
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
David 'Syd' Lawrence: Race against time to write autobiography
The autobiography of former England and Gloucestershire cricketer David 'Syd' Lawrence has been described as one of "resilience and character".Written in collaboration with Dean Wilson, it was a race against time to gather the story of the 61-year-old after he was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND) and faced losing his teammates and family joined Mr Lawrence at a book launch and charity cricket match in Downend, Bristol, on Wilson said: "We knew that he'd be losing his voice at some stage and his voice is something that was really characterful for him - it was part of who he was." The book, In Syd's Voice - The Extraordinary Life of Syd Lawrence, shares the highest points of Mr Lawrence's career and intimate moments and memories of his life. He took 625 wickets in 280 matches during a 16-year career at Gloucestershire that ended in 1988, he became the first British-born black cricketer to represent England, he went on to earn five Test match caps for his retiring from cricket, Mr Lawrence became a nightclub owner and amateur bodybuilder. He was diagnosed with MND last year and is now unable to speak or walk."It's a story about resilience, actually a story about character, and he had them both," Mr Wilson said."We did most of the interviews in October time last year and every day at 10am we would talk." Mr Lawrence was joined by his son Buster at the event who said: "It was quite an emotional moment for Dad seeing the book, he put a lot of work into it with Dean Wilson."Me and my dad have always been close so there's not much I don't know, but there's a few stories in there that came as a surprise."It was a very special moment to show him the book for the first time."He also spoke about bringing the date of his wedding day forward to allow his father to speak at the celebration."It's actually probably one of the last times Dad would speak quite clearly on his own without the assistance of machinery or anyone else," he said."It was timed perfectly, it meant a lot to me and I know it meant a lot to my Dad." Two teams full of famous faces - all friends of Mr Lawrence - took to the pitch to raise money for him and the MND fast bowler Courtney Walsh described how he formed a formidable partnership with Mr Lawrence at the height of their careers."I think we sent a lot of shockwaves through the county circuit when we started bowling together," he said."He knows I'm not going to let him down so I'm just going to do what he always expects me to do, but the only sad part is that he won't be at the other end."
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Concerns grow over river diversion project in Atchafalaya Basin
ST. MARTIN PARISH, La. (KLFY) — St. Martin Parish council members and swamp advocates are expressing their concerns over a river diversion project in Atchafalaya Basin, a project they say could lead to widespread flooding and environmental damage. 'By doing that they're sacrificing the future of south-central Louisiana,' said Dean Wilson, the executive director of the . The East Grand Lake Project, first proposed by the , was later approved by the . The project's focus is to divert polluted water from the Atchafalaya River and Bayou Sorrel through 12 cuts, and then into nearby swamps. To oppose this, a coalition of groups, including the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers back in May of 2024 on issues of how the project will affect those who make a living by fishing in the Atchafalaya Basin. Wilson argues the project could cause widespread flooding and ecological damage. 'If the levees fall on the west side of the Atchafalaya Basin, that flood could be even larger than the 1927 flood,' said Wilson. 'I think we have less room to spread, because all the levees will probably flood Lafayette.' Wilson says the Atchafalaya Basin's commercial fishermen, who rely on its water for their livelihoods, will also be affected. He says the proposed river diversion not only threatens their income, but also the cultural heritage tied to generations of fishing in these waters. 'A lot of people make their living there, they pay the bills, buy groceries in commercial fishing, they also depend on waterways, which is lot of fisherman in Louisiana,' said Wilson. The St. Martin Parish Council recently passed a resolution at a May 7 meeting in opposition of the project. According to Wilson, two other neighboring parishes are also against the river diversion project. 'Iberville, Assumption and St. Martin Parish passed resolutions against the project and also Iberville Parish already filed an amicus brief in support of our lawsuit,' said Wilson. St. Martin Parish Council chairman Chris Tauzin says members will vote tonight on whether or not they will also support the amicus brief for the lawsuit. Fatal tractor crash prompts farm road safety push Senators itching for Trump green light to move on Russia sanctions Concerns grow over river diversion project in Atchafalaya Basin Opelousas Museum launches Neighborhoods Project A Quiet Week of Weather With Near Normal Temperatures… Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
