Lancashire Cricket celebrates Black History Month
This October, Lancashire Cricket is celebrating Black History Month in the UK. This national celebration aims to promote and celebrate Black contributions to British society, and to foster an understanding of Black history in general.
As part of our celebrations, we wanted to recognise some of the most famous black players to have pulled on the Lancashire Cricket and Thunder jerseys throughout history.
To kick us off, we have a profile on former West Indian international Deandra Dottin who represented Thunder during the 2022 and 2023 seasons…
Deandra Dottin is a true all-rounder and icon of women’s cricket.
The Barbados-born star of the women’s game has excelled with bat, ball and in the field for many years, for many teams, including Lancashire Thunder, Thunder and the Manchester Originals.
But she has also had success in other sports, including football. The popular statistics website Cricket Archive lists her as a past international for Barbados.
Dottin, now 32, was also a highly successful teenaged athlete. She started off as a sprinter before developing into a discus, javelin and shot-put medalist.
Between 2005 and 2008, she won seven gold medals and two silvers at the CARIFTA Games (Caribbean Free Trade Association) and at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships from Under 17s to Under 20s.
It was in the latter year that Dottin made her international debut for the West Indies, going on to play 270 one-day and T20 internationals for them and Barbados before retiring from national duty last year. She scored 6,424 runs and took 134 wickets.
A player who has the nickname of the World Boss - self-confessed by the way - gives you an indication of her confidence and as well as playing style. She certainly doesn’t hold back when it comes to her batting and fielding, while she is a more measured but incredibly skilful medium paced bowler.
Dottin became the first woman to score a century in T20Is during a World T20 match against South Africa in 2010, reaching three figures off an incredible 38 balls. Her blitz included five fours and nine sixes and remains the fastest to date.
No one else has broken the 40-ball barrier in women’s T20 internationals.
She was part of the West Indies team which won the T20 World Cup in India in 2016 - their men also triumphed that year - and scored 129 runs and took nine wickets. She was the joint leading wicket-taker in the competition.
Dottin’s list of teams is an extensive one; Adelaide Strikers, Barbados, Brisbane Heat, London Spirit, Perth Scorchers and Trinbago Knight Riders are just a few of them.
Her 440 career appearances, and counting, across List A and T20 cricket shows outstanding longevity.
Now, her statistics for Lancashire Thunder, Thunder and the Originals were as follows.
- Lancashire Thunder - five matches in 2016, 87 runs and seven wickets.
- Thunder - 21 matches in 2022 and 2023, 445 runs and seven wickets.
- Originals - 10 matches in 2022 and 2023, 259 runs and four wickets.
But arguably a bigger influence for D-Dot was on the progression of some of our counties and region’s brightest talents as an overseas signing.
She arrived at Emirates Old Trafford to play in the 2016 Kia Super League as a professional in an amateur structure and showed, for instance, a young Sophie Ecclestone just what it took to perform at the highest level.
Ecclestone made her international debut towards the end of that year.
In returning to play for Thunder over the last two years, she has done the same with many other young guns. Libby Heap, Hannah Jones, Seren Smale and even Ellie Threlkeld are names which immediately spring to mind. There are others.
“She’s had an amazing influence on the squad,” said fellow all-rounder Laura Jackson last August, midway through Dottin’s first year of regional cricket.
“First of all as a player, it’s nice to have her expertise around. She’s a gun fielder who throws herself around. That’s shown the rest of us where we can get to. With the ball and the bat, she just goes for it.
“As a character as well, she’s hilarious. Everything she does, she’s just so funny. She takes the mick out of everyone, which is what the rest of us do anyway. She’s fitted in perfectly.”
Wherever Thunder get to over the next few years, and however much more we see of Dottin wearing the Red Rose, she has had a significant influence on the development of women’s cricket at Emirates Old Trafford.