David Lloyd, who has announced his retirement this morning after a dozen years in professional cricket with Glamorgan and - most recently - Derbyshire, holds a very special place in the record books with the 33 year-old having made the highest-ever score by a Welsh-born player in first-class cricket, and the highest score in Wales by a Glamorgan batter, having made an unbeaten 313 against Derbyshire at Sophia Gardens in September 2022. (writes Andrew Hignell)
In all, David batted for nine hours during his record-breaking innings in 2022, and struck 40 fours and 4 sixes, besides sharing in three century stands - the first was a partnership of 117 in 36.5 overs for the second wicket with Tom Bevan before adding 207 in 47.2 overs for the fourth wicket with Billy Root, followed by an unbeaten 151 in 32.3 overs for the sixth wicket with Andrew Salter.
At the other end of the batting spectrum, David also shares a rather bizarre record with the late Australian Shane Warne, with both men starting their first-class careers with three consecutive ducks - David bagged a pair on his first-class debut against Yorkshire at Headingley in 2014, before getting off the mark in the second innings of the following match with Kent at Cardiff.
Glamorgan's Director of Cricket, Mark Wallace, extended his best wishes to David:
"Congratulations to David as he brings down the curtain on his professional career. He was not only an excellent cricketer but a hugely popular and supportive teammate. He and his family should be very proud of everything he has achieved over the years. We look forward to seeing David back at Sophia Gardens and wish him well for the next steps that he takes away from the playing field."
Born in St. Asaph, David’s father had been a Football League referee and a decent club cricketer himself. So it was no surprise that young David soon harboured sporting ambitions whilst a pupil at Darland School. Having impressed playing in the North Wales Premier League and Welsh age-group teams, he made his debut for Glamorgan 2nd XI at the age of sixteen, before securing a sports scholarship at Shrewsbury School and joining the Welsh county’s full-time staff in 2012.
He confirmed his rich potential during 2014 by scoring 243 against Warwickshire in a 2nd XI match at Coventry, before enjoying a breakthrough season in the 1st XI during 2016 as he posted his maiden first-class hundred against Cardiff MCCU at Sophia Gardens, before making 107 in the Championship match against Kent at Canterbury, and followed later by 102* against Sussex at Hove.
He also enjoyed a successful summer in white-ball cricket during 2016, with the highlight being a remarkable 97* from just 49 balls against the Kent Spitfires at Cardiff. His boundary-laden blitz came during a partnership with Colin Ingram, with the latter’s aggressive strokeplay being completely overshadowed by David’s clean and crisp hitting. After powerful sweeps over the ropes at square-leg, and some withering drives over mid-wicket and long-on, David unfurled a pair of deft ramp strokes to successive deliveries from David Griffiths as he raced to a maiden T20 fifty from just 26 balls. After Colin holed out at long-off, David maintained the furious tempo to his innings as he straight drove James Tredwell for a pair of rasping fours, before tucking into the seam of Griffiths with a series of scorching cover drives, but the clatter of wickets during the closing overs deprived David of the strike and the chance of reaching three figures.
After the highs of 2016, David experienced the lows of 2017 as an arm injury sustained early in the T20 campaign saw him spend two months on the sidelines and resulted in him missing out on the opportunity of appearing at T20 Finals Day at Edgbaston. Prior to suffering the injury, David had continued to impress as a medium-pace bowler and had returned his best one-day bowling figures of 5/53 against Kent at Swansea, besides flourishing in a new role as a change bowler in white-ball cricket. Fortunately, he returned to full fitness during 2018 and continued to develop with both bat and ball, making 119 against Gloucestershire at Bristol in the opening County Championship game, followed by 92 against Middlesex in the List A contest at Sophia Gardens.
The 2019 season started with David being elevated to the position of vice-captain, besides being proudly awarded his county cap during the four-day game against Gloucestershire at Newport. The game at Spytty Park proved to be an eventful one, as Chris Cooke was subsequently injured whilst batting with Graham Wagg, and the upshot was that David had a seven-week stint as the Club’s captain, thereby becoming the first North Walian-born player since Wilf Wooller to hold this honour for Glamorgan. David subsequently succeeded Chris as the Club’s captain at the start of the 2022 season, by which time he had added another first-class century to his name with an innings of 121 against Surrey at The Oval. By this time, David had also moved up to open the batting and, on several occasions, he also took on the role of opening bowler.
David leaves the first-class game having made 127 first-class appearances and scoring 5915 runs at an average of 29.42 as well as scoring six centuries and taking 115 wickets, in addition to a tally of 1426 runs and 22 wickets in 63 appearances in List A games, besides making 1985 runs and taking 7 wickets in 96 appearances in T20 cricket.