Courtney Andrew Walsh
Courtney Andrew Walsh OJ (born 30 October 1962) is a former international cricketer (fast bowler) who represented the West Indies from 1984 to 2001, captaining the West Indies in 22 Test matches. He is best known for a remarkable opening bowling partnership along with fellow West Indian Curtly Ambrose for several years. Walsh played 132 Tests and 205 ODIs for the West Indies and took 519 and 227 wickets respectively. He shared 421 Test wickets with Ambrose in 49 matches. He held the record of most Test wickets from 2000, after he broke the record of Kapil Dev. This record was later broken in 2004 by Shane Warne. He was the first bowler to reach 500 wickets in Test cricket. His autobiography is entitled “Heart of the Lion”. Walsh was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1987, and one of the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year a year later. In October 2010, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He was appointed as the Specialist Bowling Coach of Bangladesh Cricket Team in August 2016.
Early life and first-class career:
Courtney Andrew Walsh was born on 30 October 1962 in Kingston, Jamaica. He played his early cricket there with the same cricket club for which Michael Holding also played cricketthe Melbourne club. Walsh first claim to fame came in 1979 when he took 10 wickets in an innings in school cricket and three years later made his first-class cricket debut. He played 427 matches of this format between 1981 and 2001, and took 1,807 wickets at the average of 21.71, including 104 five-wicket hauls and 20 ten-wicket hauls. Walsh played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (Gloucestershire CCC) from 1985 to 1998.
Walsh played cricket for the West Indies from 1984 to 2001, Gloucestershire County Cricket Club (Gloucestershire CCC) from 1984 to 1998, Jamaica cricket team from 198182 to 199900, Rest of the World XI in 1987 and West Indies A in 199192. He first played for Gloucestershire CCC in 1984 and was a mainstay of the side until 1998.
Records:
Walsh took 5 wickets in an ODI match conceding only one run against Sri Lanka in December 1986, a match which the West Indies won at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium, Sharjah by 193 runs. This was his solitary five-wicket haul in the format. In February 1998, he played his 100th Test, against England in Georgetown, Guyana. In 2000, Walsh became the highest wicket-taker in Test cricket, breaking a six-year-old record of Kapil Dev’s 434 wickets. He achieved the feat in his 114th match, which are 17 matches less than Kapil Dev. Walsh became the first bowler to reach 500 wickets in the history of Test cricket. He achieved the feat against South Africa in 2001, getting Jacques Kallis leg before wicket in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. Throughout his Test career, Walsh produced one of the greatest opening partnership with Curtly Ambrose as a bowler, and shared 421 wickets from 49 matches with the latter. Walsh’s 519 wickets in Test cricket was a record at that time, which was surpassed by Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan in 2004.
Walsh’s feats with the bat are rather less flattering, as indicated by an average of seven in both Test cricket and ODIs. He also holds the record for the most Test ducks (43), but also for the most “not outs” 61 times.
Walsh played 132 Tests and 205 ODI matches, and took 519 and 227 wickets respectively. He took 22 five wicket hauls in Testsof which five fifers came in the first 63 appearances and 17 in the later 69 appearancesand one in ODIs.
Retirement:
During his Test career, spanned over seventeen years, Walsh bowled 5004.1 overs, captured 519 wickets at an average of 24.45 runs and at a strike rate of 57.55 in 132 Test matches. Cricket critics considered him that he was “one of the most admired cricketers of recent times and will long be remembered as one of the game’s most revered players.” He played last time in Test cricket against South Africa in April 2001, a match West Indies won by 130 runs at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica. He took six wickets for 103 runs in the match.In ODIs, he took 227 wickets from 205 matches at an average of 30.47. His last ODI came in January 2000, against New Zealand at Jade Stadium, Christchurch in which he took one wicket for 70 runs.
Former West Indian captain Clive Lloyd attributed Walsh: “I don’t think you’ll find another Courtney Walsh around and if I was a young fast bowlers, I’d want to emulate him.” Former West Indian all-rounder Garry Sobers said about him that the “young crop of fast bowlers can take from him his dedication to West Indies and his ability to be always there, trying and giving 100 per cent in difficult conditions.”
After his career as a selector for the West Indies national cricket team, Walsh signed as bowling coach of Bangladesh in August, 2016. His contract will expire after the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Awards and honors:
Walsh was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1987, and the cricket almanack Wisden noted his “three distinct speeds, all delivered with the same action”, and his “sparing use of the bouncer, his shorter deliveries generally threatening the batsman’s rib-cage, a tactic which, allied to change of pace, produced many catches in the short-leg area off splice or glove.” Walsh was selected as one of the Indian Cricket Cricketer of the Year in 1988. He was named one Jamaica’s greatest cricketers of all time in 2004.
In October 2010, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame along-with Joel Garner, joining the other fifteen West Indian players.
Career statistics:
Test
Matches: 132
Runs scored: 936
100s/50s: 0/0
Top score: 30*
Wickets: 519
Best bowling: 7-37
ODI
Matches: 205
Runs scored: 321
100s/50s: 0/0
Top score: 30
Wickets: 227
Best bowling: 5-1
