Laurie Williams

Wisden Obituary
Williams, Laurie Rohan, died in Kingston, Jamaica on September 8, 2002, aged 33, when he swerved to avoid a damaged section of road and his car collided with an oncoming bus. His 23-year-old half-brother, Kevin Jennison, was also killed. Although Williams had opened the bowling for Jamaica against England on his first-class debut in February 1990, his method was mainly medium seam and swing rather than out-and-out pace and was well suited to limited-overs cricket. In 15 one-day internationals for West Indies between 1995-96, when he grabbed three for 16 in five overs against New Zealand in his second match, and the 2000-01 Carlton Series in Australia, he took 18 wickets at 30.88. However, his aggregate of 124 one-day international runs, with a highest score of 41, reveals neither his elegance nor ability at the crease. The highest of his three first-class hundreds, 135 for Jamaica against Windwards, helped make him the second-highest runmaker in the 1999-2000 Busta Cup. Williams's best first-class bowling, six for 26 in 1996-97, was also at Windwards' expense. In 58 firstclass matches for West Indies A and Jamaica, he scored 2,002 runs at 24.71 and took 170 wickets at 23.17. In the weeks preceding the accident Williams had played in the early rounds of the one-day Red Stripe Bowl, but had been dropped for the semi-final and final. Many paid tribute to his commitment to Jamaican cricket, while the former West Indies wicket-keeper Jackie Hendriks, president of the Jamaican Cricket Association, said he was "a gentleman on and off the field".
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack