Below are the names of the 19 black Glamorgan players who have represented the Daffodil, with a brief summary of their achievements and a link to their dedicated profile on the Glamorgan Cricket Archives website.
These men have played their part in creating Glamorgan’s history, and we hope that by highlighting their work that they may also act as role models for generations of Glamorgan players and supporters to come.
Hamish Anthony joined Glamorgan on the recommendation of fellow Antiguan Viv Richards, played six games for the Welsh county during the 1990 season. He also represented the West Indies twice at the Hong Kong Sixes, as well as playing for the MCC against Scotland in 1997. He later played for the United Stats in the 2005 ICC Trophy. In 2006 and 2008 he featured in the Stanford Twenty20 competition.
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Greg Armstrong, a young Barbadian bowler, made his Glamorgan debut against the Pakistani tourists at Swansea in 1974. He took 45 wickets at 31.00 in the 1975 season, including career-best figures of 6 for 91 against Warwickshire at Swansea.
Steve Bastien joined Glamorgan at the age of 25, having studied at Haringey College and had trials with Essex, Surrey, and Gloucestershire. The Stepney-native initially learned his cricket in Dominica, and played 73 times for the Welsh county, scoring 200 runs and taking 131 wickets, with a best match haul of 12-105 against Essex at Sophia Gardens in 1993.
Kraigg Brathwaite made history when he became the only West Indian to score two Test fifties before their 19th birthday when he made 63 against India. In November 2017, the obdurate opening batsman captained his country in a Test match against New Zealand, and on his home debut for Glamorgan he made an unbeaten century against Leicestershire in a heavy victory in Cardiff.
Gary Butcher, youngest son of Alan Butcher, took a wicket with his first ball for Glamorgan, in a Sunday League fixture in 1994. For over 20 years, he held the record for quickest first-class century for Glamorgan as he smashed a 64-ball ton against Oxford University. Butcher played a part in the 1997 County Championship victory and later won the same silverware in 1999 alongside his brother, Mark, for Surrey.
Tony Cordle was Glamorgan’s first overseas-born fast bowler, and became the spearhead of the attack during the 1969 County Championship triumph. He famously took 9-49 as the 7th bowler used in an innings, and finished his Glamorgan career with 701 first-class wickets. Cordle initially arrived in the UK in London, working for London Transport, before moving to Cardiff with his brother Steve, and finally ended up with a long and fruitful career at Sophia Gardens. Read more >
Bryan Davis was a top-order batsman during the 1969 County Championship, when he scored over 1,000 runs, before repeating the feat in 1970 when he recoded over 1,500 in another fruitful season. Davis later worked for the West Indies Cricket Board, and made four Test appearances for them.
Winston Davis was a cricket record holder with his 7/51 remaining the best figures at a World Cup for nearly 20 years, with the Glamorgan fast bowler reaching his peak during his spell at Sophia Gardens as he took 142 wickets in a three-year span as a replacement for Ezra Moseley. Davis is now sadly paralysed from the neck down after an accident in his native West Indies, but thanks to the support of the PCA he has the freedom to travel around in a specialised wheelchair.
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Daren Foster was another graduate of Haringey Cricket College, and played for Glamorgan for two seasons. Foster struggled to break into the side, but took 47 first-class wickets in 17 games, and 18 List A wickets in 16 games for Glamorgan, before moving on to play for Essex 2nd XI and Berkshire.
Kenny Francis made one List A appearance for Glamorgan, playing at Sophia Gardens in 1973, but did not make any appearances in first-class cricket. Now a restaurateur in his native St. Kitt’s, Francis also played 2nd XI cricket for Worcestershire and club cricket in South Wales.
Roy Fredericks, who sadly passed away in 2000, played 59 Tests for the West Indies and once held the world record for the quickest Test match century with a 71-ball ton in Perth in 1975. Fredericks scored nearly 3,000 first-class runs and recorded seven centuries for Glamorgan over a three-year spell, and was named a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1974 for his domestic and international exploits.
Ottis Gibson took 80 wickets for Glamorgan and hit 10 half-centuries in an injury-impacted spell with the County, but has since become one of international cricket’s most sought after coaches on the world circuit. He won the T20 World Cup in 2012 with his native West Indies, and also coached South Africa. He was England’s bowling coach for two Ashes triumphs in two different spells either side of his work with the West Indies, and is currently in charge of Bangladesh’s current crop of seamers.
Rupert Hill was part of Glamorgan’s staff in the mid-70s, featuring in one first-class game and one List A game in 1975, but was released in 1976. Hill had a good record in the club game across South Wales, featuring for Newport, Maesteg Town and Briton Ferry Town.
Collis King saved his best ODI performance for the big stage, as his 86 (from 66 balls, with 10 fours and 3 sixes) helped future Glamorgan star Viv Richards carry their West Indies side out of trouble to a second successive World Cup title. King had previously featured for Glamorgan in 1977, scoring over 1,200 runs in the season across first-class and List A formats. His middle-order hitting and accurate bowling helped Glamorgan reach the 1977 Gillette Cup Final, but King was unable to make a habit of winning at Lord's, having to wait two more years to secure the biggest silverware in world cricket.
Sam Kirnon was a former British Army Physical Training Instructor, who played for Montserrat, Dortmund CC and Ramsbottom in the Lancashire Leagues in his career, as well as two List A games and one first-class game across 1991 and 1992. Kirnon has since become Head Coach at the Dominica Cricket Academy. Read more >
Les McFarlane, who played 23 games for Glamorgan and took 22 wickets, sadly passed away in 2019. The Jamaican seamer was a popular member of the Glamorgan dressing room in his time at the Club and had stints at Lancashire and Northamptonshire as well as appearing from Bedfordshire and Staffordshire in the National Counties competition.
Ezra Moseley was described as one of Glamorgan’s fastest ever bowlers, and had the potential to excel in the game were it not for unfortunate back injuries. 114 wickets at an average of under 24 in just 35 first-class games indicate the potential he possessed, with his 9 international appearances for the West Indies not representative of the skill he had.
Viv Richards is one of the greatest players of all time. Potentially the most devasting and aggressive batsman international cricket has ever seen, the ‘Master Blaster’ played the final years of his career for Glamorgan and was instrumental in developing the side into one that could compete for titles, and in 1993 they did just that, winning the Sunday League with Sir Viv at the crease. The mindset he helped instil in the side carried over to the 1997 triumph and beyond.
Darren Sammy played six T20 games for Glamorgan, but his influence in cricket extended beyond a short time in Wales, as he won the T20 World Cup with the West Indies alongside former Glamorgan player Ottis Gibson. Sammy was one of a golden generation of extremely talented T20 cricketers from the West Indies, and became a globe-trotting T20 superstar in the CPL, PSL, BPL, BBL, and IPL, taking his medium pace, power-hitting and safe hands around the world, as well as appearing in 232 internationals.
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