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

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who plays for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. He is an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

. He previously played professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, where he was a striker. He came through the academy of

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, from whom he was loaned to

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

. He subsequently had short spells at

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

and

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

before moving into cricket.

Early life and football

Barker was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

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

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

and came over to Britain to be overseas professional for Lancashire league side

Enfield Cricket Club Enfield Cricket Club is a cricket club in the Lancashire League (not to be confused with the club of the same name in Middlesex), which plays its home games at Dill Hall Lane in Accrington. The club has won the league on 5 occasions and the cup ...

in 1965. Barker's godfather is former

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

captain

Clive Lloyd Sir Clive Hubert Lloyd (born 31 August 1944) is a Guyanese- British former cricketer and captain of the West Indies cricket team. Lloyd is widely regarded as one of the greatest captains of all time. As a boy he went to Chatham High School in ...

. Barker also played for Enfield and was offered a contract by

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, but he decided to play football with

. 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 The Premier Reserve League (officially known as The Barclays Premier Reserve League for sponsorship reasons) was the reserve team league for the top English football teams in the Premier League. The league was split into a northern and a southern ...

North appearances. In 2005–06 he scored 4 times in 11 appearances for the reserves, before being loaned to Belgian feeder club

in January 2006. He never appeared for their first team. On 31 August 2006 Barker joined League Two side

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 Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

Spotland Spotland ( ) is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseysi ...

. He scored one goal for the club in 16 appearances, equalising in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

tie away to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

on 31 October which finished 1–1, with the hosts winning in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. 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, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side

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 Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

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 Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

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 cricket, 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 competit ...

debut for Warwickshire against

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...

. Batting at number 8, he made 28 runs before being bowled by

Peter Trego Peter David Trego (born 12 June 1981) is an English former cricketer who played primarily for Somerset. He is a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium pace bowler. He is a big hitting all-rounder who is capable of taking a one-day match away ...

. 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 bo ...

, finishing with figures of 1-47 as Warwickshire lost by 8 wickets. In 2012, he formed an unexpectedly potent opening attack with

Chris Wright Christopher Allen Wright (born January 15, 1965) is an American government official, engineer, and businessman serving as the 17th United States Secretary of Energy, United States secretary of energy since 2025. Before his appointment, he was th ...

that played a key part in Warwickshire winning the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

with a game to spare. Barker is eligible for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and the

, as his father was born in

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. 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 i ...

, Barker took his 400th first-class wicket.

Anti-doping suspension

In April 2025, it was revealed that Barker had been given a 12-month suspension for breaching

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...

anti-doping rules.

UK Anti-Doping UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) is the organisation responsible for protecting sport in the United Kingdom from doping. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and is structured as a company limited by guarant ...

said he had returned a positive urine test for the

diuretic A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics ...

drug

Indapamide Indapamide is a thiazide-like diuretic drug used in the treatment of hypertension, as well as decompensated heart failure. Combination preparations with perindopril (an ACE inhibitor antihypertensive) are available. The thiazide-like diuretics ...

leading to him being provisionally suspended in July 2024. At a hearing in March 2025, Barker admitted two charges but the panel which heard his case accepted he had been legitimately prescribed the medication by his doctor to treat high blood pressure and he was not informed it was on the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

prohibited substance list. They also ruled he had "no intention to breach the anti-doping rules." Barker's ban was backdated to when his provisional suspension began and he is eligible to return to cricket from 4 July 2025.

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 Cricketers from Lancashire Black British sportsmen Northwich Victoria F.C. players Men's association football forwards English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Footballers from Lancashire