Keith Hubert Douglas Barker (born 21 October 1986) is an English first-class

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 who plays for Hampshire. He is an all-rounder. He previously played professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, where he was a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He came through the academy of Premier League club Blackburn Rovers, from whom he was loaned to Cercle Brugge and Rochdale. He subsequently had short spells at

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

and Northwich Victoria before moving into cricket.

Early life and football

Barker was born in Manchester to

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

parents. His father Keith Barker, Sr. played cricket for

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

and came over to Britain to be overseas professional for Lancashire league side Enfield Cricket Club in 1965. Barker's godfather is former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd. Barker also played for Enfield and was offered a contract by Lancashire, but he decided to play football with Blackburn Rovers. In the 2004–05 academy season, Barker scored 17 goals in 27 appearances, making him the under-18 top scorer, as Rovers won the national academy play-offs. He also scored four times in seven Premier Reserve League North appearances. In 2005–06 he scored 4 times in 11 appearances for the reserves, before being loaned to Belgian feeder club Cercle Brugge in January 2006. He never appeared for their first team. On 31 August 2006 Barker joined League Two side Rochdale on a three-month loan. He made his professional debut two days later, playing the full 90 minutes in their 1–1 draw with Hereford United at

Spotland Spotland ( ) is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The Rochdale ward name is Spotland and Falinge. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 10,805. It lies on the River Spodden, and is the home of Spotland St ...

. He scored one goal for the club in 16 appearances, equalising in a Football League Trophy tie away to Crewe Alexandra on 31 October which finished 1–1, with the hosts winning in a penalty shootout. Barker joined Irish club

in the summer of 2007 after being released by Blackburn, though his five months there were mostly spent off with injury. On 3 January 2008 he joined

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

side Northwich Victoria on a free transfer. He made four appearances for the club, all as a substitute.

International career

Barker made one appearance for England under 19s against Belgium on 9 February 2005 in a 1–1 draw.

Cricket

Barker continued to play for Enfield, where he was spotted by former England coach David Lloyd, whose son plays for Accrington. On Lloyd's recommendation he was watched by Warwickshire second team coach Keith Piper, and subsequently offered a trial. In August 2008 he was signed on a contract until 2010, after impressing in the second team. On 19 April 2009 Barker made his

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 ...

debut for Warwickshire against Somerset at Edgbaston. Batting at number 8, he made 28 runs before being bowled by Peter Trego. He then took the wicket of

James Hildreth James Charles Hildreth (born 9 September 1984) is a former English professional cricketer who played for Somerset County Cricket Club. He attended Millfield School, Somerset. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm medium pace bow ...

, finishing with figures of 1-47 as Warwickshire lost by 8 wickets. In 2012, he formed an unexpectedly potent opening attack with Chris Wright that played a key part in Warwickshire winning the County Championship with a game to spare. Barker is eligible for England and the West Indies, as his father was born in Barbados. On 26 September 2018, Barker signed for Hampshire on a two-year deal from 2019 onwards, taking 37 Championship wickets in his first season, before extending his contract further on 15 January 2020. In August 2020, in the opening round of fixtures in the

2020 Bob Willis Trophy The 2020 Bob Willis Trophy was a first-class cricket tournament held in the 2020 English cricket season, and the inaugural edition of the Bob Willis Trophy. It was separate from the County Championship, which was not held in 2020 due to the im ...

, Barker took his 400th first-class wicket.

References

External links

*
Rochdale Ex-files: Keith BarkerPlayer Profile
at Warwickshire County Cricket Club
Player Profile
at Birmingham Bears {{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Keith 1986 births Living people Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players English men's footballers Rochdale A.F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Hampshire cricketers Sportspeople from Accrington Black British sportsmen Northwich Victoria F.C. players Men's association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Footballers from Lancashire