doug walters

[Ken Gargett]

when he was interested, almost none better. one of the absolute greats. i used to go to shield games as a kid hoping we'd get nsw out for 310, and walters would get 300 of them. what a player. my childhood hero. caddied for him once when i was a kid. such a thrill.

thought this might be of interest. for those counting the cans, my sources have suggested that walters' warm-up was at least a half dozen before he ever got on the plane. 

https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/australian-cricket-great-doug-walters-lifts-the-lid-on-drinking-record-on-trip-to-london/news-story/37f83ad79204a970de9da6e15bb682f3?utm_term=RWRpdG9yaWFsX1RoZVNwaW4tMTgxMjEx&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=TheSpin&CMP=spin_email

 

 

sorry for anyone who used the previous attempt at a link. 

 

[MoeFOH]

"We didn’t count the ones we had on ground. We only called those practice sessions..." Ha ha... Classic stuff from a golden (ale) era for cricket. 

Don't really remember much of Walters at all. I was born in the year he made that tonne. I think he played his last test in '81. Always comes to mind as a great character though. 

[Ken Gargett]

i don't remember his early days - too young! but some of my earliest test memories are the tour by the west indies in 1969. i remember being furious that i was told i was too young to go to the games. 

the windies had a brilliant side - the quicks of later years got the plaudits but wes hall, charlie griffiths and sobers? rarely bettered. and lance gibbs as the spinner!! 

batting - sobers, fredricks, kanhai, nurse, butcher, clive lloyd. 

and we were pretty strong. we did win the series pretty well - chappell (ian), lawry, stackpole, redpath, garth mckenzie, connolly, johnny gleeson. but the difference was walters. made me a lifelong fan. if i recall, lawry, chappell and walters got 1900 euns between them for the series, and walters missed the first test so only played four tests. i think his lowest score was a fifty something and he got 700 runs in the four tests in including, in the last test, 240 in the first innings and a ton in the second. i don't think even bradman ever got a double and a ton in the same game. 

[JohnS]

In that 1968-69 series, Doug Walters' form was virtually unprecedented for a young debutant. Yes, he actually scored 242 and 103 in a test against a strong West Indies, after all, they did Australia at home in 1965.

Walters' form was so exemplary, his subsequent India and South African tours in 1969-70 ensured that his respective ICC cricket ranking points hit above 900, the mark that suggests world-beating form.

During World Series Cricket with Kerry Packer he was hopelessly out of form, so much so that he couldn't make the Australian XI. He went back to state cricket and regained his touch, and played well against New Zealand and India in 1980-81 at age 35. He was shocked to not be considered for the 1981 Ashes tour and subsequently retired. In hindsight, this was a monumentous error on behalf of the selectors, even worse than Mike Hussey not being selected for the 2005 Ashes.

[Ken Gargett]

20 minutes ago, JohnS said:

In that 1968-69 series, Doug Walters' form was virtually unprecedented for a young debutant. Yes, he actually scored 242 and 103 in a test against a strong West Indies, after all, they did Australia at home in 1965.

Walters' form was so exemplary, his subsequent India and South African tours in 1969-70 ensured that his respective ICC cricket ranking points hit above 900, the mark that suggests world-beating form.

During World Series Cricket with Kerry Packer he was hopelessly out of form, so much so that he couldn't make the Australian XI. He went back to state cricket and regained his touch, and played well against New Zealand and India in 1980-81 at age 35. He was shocked to not be considered for the 1981 Ashes tour and subsequently retired. In hindsight, this was a monumentous error on behalf of the selectors, even worse than Mike Hussey not being selected for the 2005 Ashes.

john, completely agree about them not selecting him for the ashes. a disgrace. ditto hussey but i was gutted when they missed on walters.

a few things - 

that was not his debut series. pretty sure he kicked off back in 1965, before he went to vietnam. i think it was v england, not sure on that, but if i recall, he scored a ton in his first test and might even have been the youngest bloke at the time. pretty sure that might even have been at the gabba but i was basically in nappies or just out of them, so that is from reading old cricket books. 

i can't believe a ranking of 900 (and i am a massive fan) after those tours. he did not do that well (did get some crucial wickets). from memory - i do remember listening to the south african series late into the night on radio at the time - he got a ton on the indian leg and perhaps a couple of half centuries? i think he got a couple of 70s in south africa and may be one other 50 but not much more than that. nothing near enough to get a high rating. ian chappell arrived in south africa with a bunch of runs and bill lawry announced him as the best in the world, which the south africans took grave exception to, with a bloke called graeme pollock in their side and then of course, barry richards emerged. whenever we do all time xi's, pollock is the one bloke that gets some pushback. no idea why. for me, second to bradman. 

pretty sure walters scored 250 in one innings against the kiwis in that last series. 

while on cricket books, you'd recall john arlott, the wonderful english commentator. he was also a wine writer and wrote a book on Krug. met his daughter in champagne years ago and she told me his fee was 5 cases a year! supposedly a wonderful book but i have never been able to find a copy, despite searching long and hard. chatting with a friend from melbourne on the trip to brokenwood and somehow it came up. turns out she has one so has sent it to me. very chuffed. 

[JohnS]

You're right on all those points, Ken. Yes, Walters debuted in 1965-66 against England. His personal rankings high came after the 2nd test of that South African series I think when he hit 74 not out in the second innings and was probably further increased by Mike Proctor taking a lot of wickets in those 4 tests.

I absolutely love that John Arlott story!

[Ken Gargett]

tragic one can remember scores and games and players from decades ago, sometimes only from reading about it, but ask me who scored what in the first test of this series????

[dimi68]

Let me remind you currently India 5 centuries Aussies 0

No Aussie batsman past 72!