Duncan Spencer (born 5 April 1972) is a former English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. Born in

Nelson, Lancashire Nelson is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England, with a population of 29,135 in 2011. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Burnley and 2.5 miles southwest of Colne. It developed as a ...

, the family moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

when he was five years old and Spencer played Western Australian grade cricket.Duncan Spencer

CricInfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

. Retrieved 2022-06-24. He played as a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. After playing aged group cricket for Western Australia in 1989, Spencer's first high-profile cricket appearances came in two one-day matches for Western Australia against a touring England A side in March 1994. Spencer's

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

and

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

debuts came for

Kent County Cricket Club Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Ke ...

in 1993. He made five List A and two first-class matches for the side during the season before signing for

in time for the 1994–95 Sheffield Shield. After playing in the majority of the side's matches during the Shield season, in 1994 he returned to Kent, playing a further four County Championship matches and in the county's List A side.Duncan Spencer
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2022-06-24. Spencer dropped out of the county game with back trouble, but not before

Sir Vivian Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is an Antiguan retired cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Batting generally at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

rated Spencer as the fastest bowler he had ever faced. After six years out of the Western Australian side, he returned to play six one-day matches for WA in the 2000/01 season and after the last of these matches, he returned a positive drug test for the

anabolic steroid Anabolic steroids, also known more properly as anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS), are steroidal androgens that include natural androgens like testosterone (medication), testosterone as well as synthetic androgens that are structurally related ...

performance-enhancing drug

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrolon ...

. He was found guilty and suspended from all competitive cricket for 18 months. Spencer claimed that it was taken to relieve the pain caused by chronic back injuries.Polack J (2001
Spencer outed for eighteen months

, 19 April 2001. Retrieved 2022-06-24. Spencer returned to sign for

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

at the age of 34, signing for the start of the 2006 County Championship season. He played just one Championship match following his return, moving to Minor Counties side

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

during the second half of the season. He was on the losing side of the 2006 Minor Counties Championship final.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Duncan 1972 births English cricketers Living people Kent cricketers Sussex cricketers Western Australia cricketers Doping cases in cricket English sportspeople in doping cases People from Nelson, Lancashire Buckinghamshire cricketers People educated at Kent Street Senior High School Cricketers from Lancashire