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I have always been a fan of faster bowlers in cricket, especially test matches, which are truly considered as the real tests. I wanted to give it a go again at a memorable bowling performance by a fast bowler from West Indies and I believe Courtney Walsh’s name is never a surprise. The first time I noticed someone quipping about Walsh was when West Indies lost to Kenya in that infamous match in the 1996 World Cup, under the captaincy of Richie Richardson. Like me, the person who was vocal about Walsh, also would have been a learner of cricket back then. Later I found out that when Sachin Tendulkar scored his then best test score of 179 at Nagpur, he hooked Walsh for a six to bring up his 8th test hundred.
I was not aware that when Walsh made his test debut against Australia in 1984 at WACA, Clive Lloyd was the captain of West Indies. I remember, Ambrose ignoring Walsh’s name when Ambrose named the all time West Indies test eleven. It was not a surprise for me not because Walsh was not talented and had not delivered for his team, but because the West Indies team had so many talented players and it is extremely difficult to fit many skilled players in a playing eleven, as they have to make their way out for other more gifted players. A senior professional colleague of me had a picture of Walsh in his social media account.
What amazes me the most about Walsh was his stamina. Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh made a formidable opening bowling pair for the West Indies. According to me, Walsh is the first genuine fast bowler who completed playing more than 130 test matches. Kapil Dev had done that before Walsh, but he was an allrounder and the volume of overs he had bowled in tests were less than Walsh’s. I remember Walsh advising youngsters with some bowling skills and he particularly said about bowling the ball with a cross seam as a surprise to extract more bounce. If I had a chance to ask some bowling tips to Walsh, I would ask him how he had bowled both the inswingers and outswingers with almost the same bowling action and how he maintained his fitness, being a fast bowler. It was really tough for someone to pick Walsh’s deliveries, that came from a good height with an open chested action, though not whippy enough to get injured.
Walsh had a very different batting stance, and his body language while leaving the ball had kept both the cricket commentators and spectators to see the funny side of it. When Brian Lara scored 153 not out to hand a victory to West Indies against Australia, in the third test match of Frank Worrell Trophy in 1999 at Bridgetown, Walsh was the last batsman who survived 5 balls by supporting Lara. He had taken five wickets in the second innings of Australian batting which is the video here, which had allowed West Indies to come back after conceding a first innings lead of 161. I still remember Walsh hitting a six of Mushtaq Ahmed during the second test of Pakistan’s tour of West Indies in 2000 at Bridgetown and the debutant Ramnaresh Sarwan smiling after seeing a rather remarkable shot from a number eleven. Walsh again showed his temperament, during the last test match of the same test series, at St. John’s, when he gave good support to Jimmy Adams, and both of them guided West Indies home with a one wicket win over Pakistan in a very tight test match, which was the decider of the series. Wasim Akram almost handed a victory to Pakistan in that match, but he did not get enough support from other bowlers and some tough umpiring decisions did not go in favour of Pakistan. Also, Most of Walsh’s bowling performance went unnoticed when people were more vocal about his bowling partner Ambrose, but he was equally skillful and dangerous as Ambrose, while both of them shared the new ball.
I remember someone commenting in the youtube, while I was listening to some of the finest electronic dance songs of the nineties. He was of the opinion that the eighties and nineties had so many incredible artists who could never be replaced and such was the impact of their creativity, and their music was timeless classics. Another person was listening to the music and was craving for a time machine to visit the good old days of music with many memories of other events that would be cherished together. If someone asks me about the cricket matches that were timeless classics, I would rate the matches that were played in the eighties and nineties as so, similar to the music at the same time period as mentioned above, and the matches that were played during the earliest part of 2000s, but certainly not the matches after that, when there seemed to be one sided contests due to the more advantageous rules for batsmen over bowlers. And yes, of course, I too would opt for a time machine to cherish matches like this, and many more, to reminisce, along with other memorable moments that were experienced along with it.
- Series – Australia tour of West Indies, The Frank Worrell Trophy, 4 Match Test Series, 3rd test
- Year – 1999
- Venue – Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados
- Date – 26-30 March, 1999
- Result – West Indies won
- Margin – 1 wicket
- Player of the match – Brian Lara
- Series won by – West Indies
- Margin – 2-2
- Player of the series – Brian Lara
Written on 13th December, 2025