Max Walker
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Full name | Maxwell Henry Norman Walker | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
12 September 1948 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batting style | Right-hand bat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bowling style | Right-arm fast-medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Role | Bowler, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1968/69–1981/82 | Victoria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 17 June 2014 |
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Maxwell Henry Norman Walker AM (born 12 September 1948) is a former Australian cricketer and Australian rules football player. Formerly an architect, he currently works as a media commentator and motivational speaker and has diverse business interests.
Contents
Football career
As a student he worked at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as a maintenance man and scoreboard operator and spent winter playing football and summer cricket. Eventually Walker's summer pursuits won out and he made his Test debut in 1972, shortly after giving up his football career. Melbourne retained him on their senior list in 1973 but couldn't entice him back to play.
Cricket career
Walker played 70 first-class games for Victoria and 38 Tests for Australia, taking 138 wickets as a medium-fast bowler. He played in 29 ODI's between 1974 and 1981, including matches during World Series Cricket from 1977 to 1979. His strange bowling action, particularly the way he moved his feet, earned Walker the nickname of "Tangles" or "Tanglefoot".
Writing career
Max Walker is also the author of 14 books with his sales exceeding one million copies. This includes seven number-one best sellers. His first book, Tangles (written with Neil Phillipson), was published in 1976 while his 14th book Caps, Hats and Helmets came out in 2006.
Media career
Once he retired from cricket, Walker became a celebrity on television and radio. He first appeared on radio, calling cricket for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) with Drew Morphett and Alan McGillvray. He was also part of the commercial radio cricket coverage run by 2UE and 3AK with his colleagues from Channel Nine and included Dennis Cometti and Ray Jordon. His first television appearances date back to 1982, where he was the cricket expert on Channel 7's World Of Sport. After moving to channel 9, he was also part of National Nine News Melbourne with Brian Naylor, reading sports reports on the nightly news. He also hosted the Nine Network's The Sunday Footy Show from 1993-1998 and Nine's Wide World of Sports program until it was cancelled in 1999. He was also a commentator for Channel Nine's cricket matches between 1986 and 1991.
Walker is also a writer and has written light hearted books including The Wit of Walker, How to Kiss a Crocodile and How to Puzzle a Python. At present he is prominent on the public speaking circuit and in 2005 made a rare TV appearance on the Nine Network's sports show Any Given Sunday, hosted by James Brayshaw, as well as ABC2's sports program Late Night Legends featuring highlights of the 1974/75 Ashes series in which Walker had a prominent role.
Walker has also been parodied by The Twelfth Man, on the 1994 album Wired World of Sports II. It follows Walker through a day at his job at the Nine Network in which he is involved in an assault on co-host Ken Sutcliffe in order to increase his chances of being included on the cricket commentary team. Also, there is a reference to Walker's book publishing when on the album Billy Birmingham (as Walker) remarks, "Have you got my latest book, Alligators and Arseholes? What about Dingoes and Dropkicks?" These were initial Walker Books
He is a supporter of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) and the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL).
He also appears on one of the Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency's advertisements.
Honours
On 13 June 2011, Walker was named a Member of the Order of Australia for service to cricket at a national and international level as a player and commentator, and to the community through a range of youth and social welfare organisations.[1]
Personal life
Married to Kerry Walker, he has five children (three of them from a first marriage).
Walker is an avid collector of fountain pens and in fact uses one when writing the manuscripts for his books.
See also
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Player profile: Max Walker from ESPNcricinfo
- Max Walker's statistics from AFL Tables
- Brydon Coverdale, "Australia's Winter Allrounders: XI Test Cricketers who played Australian Rules football at the highest level", Cricinfo, 28 May 2007
- Max Walker's Full Biography
- Max Walker - Official Website
- Speaker Solutions - Max Walker
- Interview on ABC Television's Talking Heads February 2007
- List of Max Walker's books
- Use dmy dates from September 2012
- Use Australian English from September 2012
- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
- 1948 births
- Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup
- Australia One Day International cricketers
- Australia Test cricketers
- Australian cricket commentators
- Living people
- Melbourne Football Club players
- Australian television presenters
- Victoria cricketers
- World Series Cricket players
- Sportspeople from Melbourne
- People from Hobart
- Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers
- Members of the Order of Australia
- Australian cricketers
- Australian rules footballers from Tasmania