Name:

Walsh, Courtney A

Nickname:

Two Cs

Date of Birth:

30 Oct 1962

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

Kingston

Career:

Test: 1984 - 2001
ODI: 1985 - 2000
First Class: 1981 - 2001

Teams:

West Indies (Country)
Jamaica (Regional)
Gloucestershire (Regional)

Courtney Walsh: Holding was my hero

Courtney Walsh: Long sustained bowling career and record holder

Born : 30 October 1962 at Kingston, Jamaica

Jamaica-born Courtney Walsh represented the West Indies in 132 Tests and 205 ODIs and claimed 519 Test scalps and 227 ODI wickets in the process. The former fast bowler managed an incredible 22 five-fors in his career and five 10-wicket matches, while his Test economy rate was 2.53 and 3.83 in ODIs. Until 2004, Walsh was the only man to take 500 wickets in Test cricket and he is the only pace bowler to have bowled more than 5000 overs, in Test cricket.

A physiological phenomenon, Courtney Walsh probably bowled faster for longer than any man in history. His spirit was as unbreakable as his body, urging him on to the previously undreamed-of heights of 519 Test wickets and 30,019 balls, not to mention the countless overs he sent down for Gloucestershire and Jamaica.

For the first half of his career, Walsh was the willing workhorse cantering into the wind while Curtly Ambrose or Malcolm Marshall galloped down the hill. But he grew stronger and wilier with age, graduating to the new ball around 1993, and forming one of the great opening partnerships with Ambrose: 421 wickets between them from 49 Tests.

Walsh's action was neither elegant nor orthodox, but it was hugely economical, catapulting the ball down from 10 foot high with a simple snap of the hips. An old-fashioned specialist, his comic incompetence with the bat earned him a Test-record 43 ducks.