David Lloyd (cricketer)

David Lloyd (born 18 March 1947) is an English former cricket player, umpire, coach and commentator, who played county cricket for Lancashire County Cricket Club and Test and One Day International cricket for the English cricket team.

He also played semi-professional football for Accrington Stanley.

He is known through the cricketing world as Bumble due to the ostensible similarity between his facial profile and those of the Bumblies, characters from Michael Bentine's children's television programmes.

A left-handed batsman and left-arm spin bowler, he played nine Tests, with a highest score of 214 not out, and eight One Day International matches.

In first-class cricket he was a successful all-rounder, scoring a career aggregate of more than 19,000 runs and taking 237 wickets.

Lloyd was born in Accrington, Lancashire, in March 1947, and was educated at Accrington Secondary Technical School.

It was in the Lancashire League initially that Lloyd found enough success to attract the attention of the county selectors, playing 33 matches for Accrington between 28 July 1962 and his first-class debut.

His total career spanned twenty years from 1965 to 1985, and he also played lower level cricket for Cumberland as well as league and club cricket in Accrington, for whom he continued to appear for until 2009 alongside his son.

Lloyd played his first first-class match for Lancashire on 12 June 1965 in a County Championship match against Middlesex at Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester.

Lloyd batted at number seven, and made a pair – scores of zero in both innings – as Middlesex took a nine wicket victory.

He did, however, take two wickets.

He went on to struggle in his first season with the bat, playing 13 matches and scoring only 262 runs at 14.55 with a high score of 44.

He did find success with the ball, however, taking 21 wickets at 31.33.

Lloyd made his debut in one day matches on 22 June 1966 – the only one day match he would play that season.

It was a Gillette cup quarter-final against Somerset at Taunton cricket ground.

He failed to make an impression: batting at six Lloyd was dismissed without scoring, and was not called on to bowl.

He did, however, enjoy greater success with the bat in first-class cricket – scoring 588 runs from 25 matches at 21.77, including two half-centuries and a best of 77.

He also took 32 wickets at 24.87, the highest wicket tally of his career.

1967 saw similar returns: 14 matches yielding 316 runs at 21.06 including one half-century score of 52*, as well as a successful bowling season with 21 wickets at 21.14 and the second five-wicket haul of his career.

1968 saw Lloyd score his first century for Lancashire, against Cambridge University on 8 June.

He scored 148 not out in a rain-affected draw.

Lloyd would later state to The Sunday Times that this was the moment when he realised he wanted to be a cricketer.

He went on to score 935 runs from 23 matches that season, largely batting up the order.

His bowling suffered, however, taking only one wicket at 93.00.

His son, Graham Lloyd, was born in 1969; he went on to play six ODI matches for England, and enjoyed a successful career for Lancashire, as well as with his father for Cumberland and Accrington.

Lloyd became a regular one-day player for Lancashire in 1969, playing 16 matches that year and scoring 342 runs at 22.80.

Lancashire did not use Lloyd's bowling in the one day games that year, though he did take four first-class wickets at 17.50, and continued to improve with the bat, scoring his second century, 102*, and reaching 1,238 runs from 27 matches at 31.74 – the first time he had topped 1,000 runs in a season.

He captained his county from 1973 to 1977.

Following his retirement as a player, he became a first-class umpire, and subsequently Lancashire and England cricket coach, resigning the latter post following the 1999 Cricket World Cup.

He then became a renowned cricket commentator for Test Match Special, and later Sky Sports.

He is also an author, journalist and columnist.

In December 2021, Lloyd announced his retirement from full-time commentating.

In 2022, he signed a contract with Lancashire's in-house channel LancsTV to commentate on every non-televised Vitality Blast home match and select County Championship fixtures.

A second son, Ben Lloyd, also played Lancashire League cricket between 1999 and 2000, making seven appearances for Church.

He scored the winning runs for Accrington in the final game of the 2009 season ensuring they won their seventh Lancashire League title.

In 2018, Lloyd was given the freedom of Accrington.

Lloyd had an extensive playing career, with 407 first-class matches and 288 one day games.

He scored nearly 27,000 runs and took 276 wickets in his career for Lancashire and England, and took 423 catches.

His batting average of 33.33 in all first-class cricket, and bowling average of 30.26, illustrate his capability as a successful all-rounder.

He scored over 1,000 runs in a season on ten occasions, and scored hundreds in all three major domestic competitions.