As part of Black History Month, we have taken a look at the careers of several black cricketers who made an enormous impact during their time at Middlesex.
ROLAND BUTCHER
Roland Orlando Butcher was born in Barbados on 14th October 1953 and moved to England at the age of 14.
Based in Hertfordshire, Butcher got involved with Stevenage Cricket Club when the 3rd XI needed players. Alongside his education at Shepalbury, he was playing for the first team by the time he was 15 and represented North Hertfordshire Schools.
He played 550 times for Middlesex – making 277 first-class appearances and 273 List-A outings for the Seaxes – helping the Club win 12 trophies.
He made his first-class debut at the age of 21 during an eight-wicket win over Yorkshire at Middlesborough in June 1974 and played List-A cricket for the first time a month later in a John Player League match against Essex at Lord’s.
It took 34 matches for Butcher to register his first century for the Club. It came in 1978 against Gloucestershire, a county which he had played second team cricket for before joining MCC Young Cricketers in the early 1970s
In 1982, two years after he became England's first black cricketer, Butcher made his highest score in a Middlesex shirt – 197 against Yorkshire in a drawn match at the Home of Cricket.
Butcher won the 1987 Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest century of the season in England. It took him just 73 balls to reach his ton against Sussex at Hove.
All-in-all, he scored 16,920 runs for the Club – including 17 centuries. He also took 346 catches and was awarded a benefit year in 1989 – 10 years after he was awarded his county cap.
He played for Suffolk a year later before calling time on his career.
NORMAN COWANS
Norman George Cowans was born 17th April 1961 in Jamaica and moved to England 11 years later.
Having worked hard on his game during his youth, Cowans played for England’s Under-19s and found himself signing for Middlesex in the winter of 1979/80 after spending a year on the Lord’s groundstaff.
In September 1981, Cowans made his Middlesex debut in the County Championship clash against Leicestershire at Grace Road before featuring in List-A cricket for the first time later in the same week at Chelmsford in the John Player League.
He was named as the Cricket Writers’ Club Young Player of the Year in 1982 after taking 33 wickets in the summer, impressing onlookers.
In all, Cowans took 19 five-wicket hauls and a single 10-fer for the Seaxes – with best innings figures of 6/31 coming in the 10-wicket win over Leicestershire in 1985.
In List-A cricket, Cowans’ best figures of 6/9 came against Lancashire.
His successful Middlesex career saw him go on to play 42 times for England, including 19 Tests and 23 ODIs. Cowans took Test-best figures of 6/77 against Australia in the fourth Test of the 1982/83 Ashes series.
Cowans was capped by the Club in 1984 and had a benefit year in 1993 before leaving the club and joining Hampshire.
During his time at the Club, Cowans won 10 trophies and took 532 first-class wickets as well as 212 in List-A cricket and remains Middlesex’s 26th-highest wicket taker of all time – with Toby Roland-Jones on the same number.
WAYNE DANIEL
Wayne Wendell Daniel was born on 16th January 1956 in St Philip, Barbados.
In just his fourth game for Middlesex, Daniel picked up the first of the twenty-two five-wicket hauls he took for the Club and took 10/76 in the game to take the first of four ten-wicket match hauls for the Club.
1977, his first year at the Club, saw him take 52 Championship wickets at an average of 21.26 – more than enough to earn Daniel a return the following year, and a career with Middlesex which spanned twelve years had begun.
During that 12-year career with Middlesex, Daniel wrote himself into the record books, taking 685 first-class wickets for the Club in the County Championship, including best figures of 9/61 taken against Glamorgan at Swansea in 1982 – that year he took 71 first-class wickets. His best season return for Middlesex came in 1985, when he took 79 wickets.
He went on to take 685 first-class wicket and sits 18th in the all-time list. Daniel won the County Championship four times (1977 (shared), 1980, 1982 and 1985).
In List-A cricket, Daniel holds the Club’s best-ever figures of 7/12 which were recorded in 1978. He has two other performances ranked in the 10 best across Middlesex’s history and finished his time with 316 List-A wickets. He helped the Club secure one-day silverware on six occasions, playing in the Gillette Cup winning side of 1977, the NatWest Trophy sides of 1980, 1984, and 1988, and the Benson & Hedges Cup winning sides of 1983 and 1986.
In all, Wayne Wendell Daniel made 422 appearances for the Club and took a staggering 1,001 wickets.
SOPHIA DUNKLEY
Sophia Ivy Rose Dunkley was born on 16th July 1998 in Lambeth, South-East London.
Dunkley finished her playing career with Middlesex in 2020, having hit over 1,500 runs for the Club in both formats of the game, and having taken just short of one hundred wickets for the Club with her leg-spin.
Despite being born across the river, Dunkley grew up in North London and developed a love of the game playing cricket in the street in a cul-de-sac. From there, the pair ended up joining Finchley Cricket Club.
She entered the Middlesex County Age Group system at Under-11s and represented the Club all the way through to the Under 19s, whilst by then also representing the Club in Senior Women’s cricket - which she did for almost a decade.
A talented right-handed batter and a canny wicket-taking leg-spin bowler, at a very early age Dunkley stood out as one to watch, and very quickly established herself as one of the most talented players in her age group.
Dunkley’s talents were recognised at Under-12 level, and she rapidly rose through the ranks – making her senior debut against Sussex in 2012, aged just 13.
She went on to make 41 T20 appearances for the Club, hitting four half-centuries, and top-scoring with an unbeaten 77, hit off just 51 balls against Somerset in 2017.
In List-A cricket she made a further 41 appearances for the Club, hitting two centuries and five half-centuries, including a top score of 138 against Worcestershire Women in May 2019, poignantly being played back at Mill Hill School where she had learned her trade as a youngster.
Dunkley was deservedly named as the Middlesex Women’s Player of the Year award in both the 2017 and 2019 seasons.
The 26-year-old has played for England 96 times across all three formats and she has struck one century, becoming the first black female cricketer to score a century for her country – notching 107 in a One-Day International against South Africa in 2022.
DESMOND HAYNES
Desmond Leo Haynes, or ‘Dessie’ as he was affectionately known, was born in Holders Hill, Barbados on 15th February 1956.
He joined Middlesex as the Club’s overseas player at the start of the 1989 season, having already long-established himself alongside Gordon Greenidge as one of the most formidable opening batting partnerships the West Indies Test side have ever seen. He made his List-A debut for Middlesex in a Benson & Hedges Cup match against Surrey at Lord’s on 13th May and made his First-Class debut for the Club just four days later against Hampshire at Lord’s
His best performance came in 1990 when he struck 255 against Sussex at Lord’s. This was one of eight first-class centuries that summer in a season which saw him score 2,346 runs at an average of 69.00 – helping Middlesex secure their first title in five years.
It was a stunning performance, one of 21 centuries the West Indian hit for the Club across the six seasons he spent at Lord’s.
Undoubtedly one of the finest overseas players to ever play for the Club, Middlesex Cricket owes Desmond Haynes a huge amount of gratitude.
WILF SLACK
Willfred Norris Slack was born in at Troumaca, St. Vincent in 1954 and moved to the UK at the age of 11.
He was a left-handed opening batter and a right-arm medium pace bowler, who scored 12,565 first-class runs for Middlesex, and represented the Club 201 times between 1977 and 1988.
Slack struck 25 centuries during his Middlesex career, with his best score coming in 1981 when he scored 248 not out against Worcestershire at Lord’s. With the ball, he took 19 wickets with a best performance of 3/17 and claimed 137 catches.
During his time at the Club, he passed the 1,000-run mark in the season eight times, with a best of 1,900 in 1985 when he averaged 54.28.
Three Test caps were earned by Slack in 1985 and 1986. His best performance came against the West Indies in the 1985/86 series when he scored 52 in Antigua.
On three occasions, Slack collapsed whilst batting for Middlesex and the cause was unknown. In 1989, he collapsed during an exhibition match in the Gambia and died with a heart attack being named as the cause of his death.
The Wilf Slack Memorial Ground is located in Finchley near the Middlesex Indoor Cricket School and the Wilf Slack Cricket Centre is at William Perkin School in Greenford.
PAUL WEEKES
Paul Nicholas Weekes was born in Hackney on 8th July 1969 and played for Middlesex over a 16-year period from 1990-2006 as a left-handed batter and a right-arm off-spinner.
Weekes made 582 appearances for the Club across all three formats, scoring over 19,000 runs and taking almost 650 wickets – playing a key role.
In 1996, his best performance with the bat came as we defeated Somerset at Uxbridge in the County Championship. Weekes struck an unbeaten 171 and in the same match scored 160 – making him one of only a few players to score a century in each innings of a first-class match
His finest effort with the bat came in the summer of 1996, when he scored an unbeaten 171 as Middlesex defeated Somerset at Uxbridge in the County Championship. In the same match, he scored 160 – becoming one of a few players to score a century in each innings of a first-class match…
1996 was a great summer for Weekes, because as well as his heroics with the bat, he claimed his best figures with the ball – taking 8/39 on the final day against Glamorgan, sealing a nine-wicket victory for the Seaxes.
20-5-39-8 were his final figures, making him the 16th player to take eight wickets in an innings at the Home of Cricket.
This performance was one of five five-wicket hauls that he took during his 16 years at Middlesex and he also scored 29 centuries with the bat.
His best return in List-A cricket was 4/17, whilst 3/29 was his best effort in T20 cricket.
NEIL WILLIAMS
Neil Fitzgerald Williams was born on 2nd July 1962 in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Williams joined Middlesex and made his county debut in 1982 after spending a year-and-a-half as a MCC Young Professional whilst plying his trade for Hornsey Cricket Club.
During his 14 years at the Club, Williams played a key part in winning four County Championship titles as well as the Benson & Hedges Cup in 1983 and the 1992 Sunday League.
He made his only Test appearance against India at the Oval after Chris Lewis withdrew following a migraine. He took two wickets in the match including Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin.
He had a benefit season in 1994 before moving east a year later, where he played for Essex until his retirement from cricket in 1998.
Making 390 appearances for Middlesex across both First-Class and List-A cricket, Williams took 684 wickets for the Club with best figures of 8/75 against Gloucestershire at Lord’s in 1992.
At the age of 43, Williams tragically passed away following a three-week stint in hospital after a stroke.
