How does one live upto a great legacy? how does one live upto the towering standards set by men such as Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshal? Can one edge out these legends. There is but only one man who can answer all these questions. And being a soft-spoken gentleman, he did it the way he knows best. On the 20th of March 2001, Courtney Walsh became the first and only bowler to have taken 500 test wickets. The legends, Iam sure must have taken off their hats and cheered.
It took 17 years for Walsh to get his 500th victim. The great game of Cricket has seen a number of tear away fast bowlers whose career is cut short by injuries. The longetivity of Courtney’s career is outstanding. The icing on the cake is the fact that in his last 27 test matches, Courtney has taken 129 wickets, bettering the frequency than any time in his 17 year old career. And Courtney Walsh is supposed to be an aging fast bowler!
Courtney Walsh was not the biggest built fast bowler to play cricket, neither was he the fastest, nor the most feared. In November 1984, 22 year old Courtney Walsh bowled his first ball in International Test Cricket against Australia at Perth. He started out as a stock bowler, intended to hold up one end while Marshall and Holding would destroy the opposition in quick effective spells. A Modest man, his only ambition in test cricket was to take 200 test wickets. And boy, has he left that mark behind!
On that day in Perth, no one could have predicted the tall lanky bowler would one day rewrite cricketing history. As time went by, Walsh matured as an attacking bowler who worked up a lively pace, moved the ball in the air and off the seam, used his hight to good effect in getting good bounce off the pitch and had subtle variations in pace. In short, the stock bowler matured to an attacking fast bowler. His partnership with Curtly Ambrose was a nightmare for many a batsmen. A gifted gentleman who answers to the name of Michael Atherton would vouch for this. He has been the bunny no less than 17 times.
He started his career with a dream team, with names that are now part of cricketing history. Today he plays with a team with one temperamental genius, who fails more often than comes good, an aging captain who plays more for money than pride, one lion hearted wicketkeeper batsman, and seven talent less players who would probably have been happier playing with three year olds, and lost. Amazingly the turnaround in the team’s fortunes does not seem to have affected Courtney. He still bowls long penetrating spells. He is still focused, even after 500 wickets and still sets targets for himself. He never had 5 wickets in an innings at Trinidad. He got this as a bonus after his 500th wicket. The day end statistics read 6/61 in 36.4 overs
Words do not suffice. The more I write about Walsh, the more there is to say. I may run out of space and words, Walsh will keep bowling. For those who think the end of Walsh’s career is at hand, don’t let 55o or 600 wickets surprise you. When id comes to C. A. Walsh, anything is possible. Take a look at his bowling career statistics
Tests
O M R W Ave BBI 5 10 SR Econ
4835.1 1085 12379 504 24.56 7-37 22 3 57.5 2.56
One Day Internationals
O M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
1803.4 185 6918 227 30.47 5-1 6 1 47.6 3.83
First Class
O R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
3645.5 13854 551 25.14 6-21 13 5 39.7 3.79