Ashley Harvey-Walker

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Ashley Harvey-Walker
Personal information
Full name
Ashley John Harvey-Walker
Born(1944-07-21)21 July 1944
Transvaal
, South Africa
BattingRight-handed
Bowling
  • Right-arm medium
  • Right-arm offbreak
RoleAll-rounder
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1971–1978Derbyshire
FC debut23 June 1971 Derbyshire v Oxford Univ.
Last FC18 July 1978 Derbyshire v Worcestershire
LA debut20 June 1971 Derbyshire v Lancashire
Last LA13 August 1978 Derbyshire v Middlesex
Career statistics
Competition First-class List A
Matches 81 91
Runs scored 3,186 1,829
Batting average 23.95 22.03
100s/50s 3/19 0/8
Top score 117 84
Balls bowled 2,352 418
Wickets 34 9
Bowling average 33.82 34.22
5 wickets in innings 1 0
10 wickets in match 1 0
Best bowling 7/35 4/37
Catches/stumpings 31/– 29/–
Source: CricketArchive, 28 April 2010

Ashley John Harvey-Walker (21 July 1944 – 28 April 1997) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire from 1971 to 1978.[1] He was shot dead in a Johannesburg bar.[2][3]

Hundred on debut

Harvey-Walker was born in East Ham, London and educated at Strathallan School in Perthshire, where he was in the first XI for five years.[1][4] After school he joined Warwickshire in 1963 and played for the second XI team.[5] He moved to Derbyshire in 1967 where he also played in the second XI.[5] In the 1971 season he made his first team debut.[5] He became the first Derbyshire cricketer to score a century on his debut scoring an unbeaten 110 against Oxford University at Burton-on-Trent.[6][7]

Career

Harvey-Walker was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break and medium-pace bowler.[1] Early in his career he played purely as a top order batsman, though he struggled to hold down a regular place in a weak batting side.[1] His best season was in 1974 when he scored 727 runs at 25.96, and also scored 448 List 'A' runs.[8]

In June 1975, during a match between Derbyshire and Lancashire at Buxton, a highly unseasonal snowstorm took place.[9] To that date, it was the only first-class cricket match in history whereby, 'snow stopped play', in what was one of the hottest summers on record.[9] Shortly after the thaw set in, Harvey-Walker came out to bat and surprised square leg umpire Dickie Bird by asking him to look after his false teeth, wrapped in a handkerchief, because he wouldn't be in for long![9]

Not regarded as a regular bowler much beforehand, he was regularly employed when selected in the

Ilkeston.[2] Despite playing in the 1978 Benson & Hedges Cup Final he was not re-engaged at the end of the season in a general clearout by the County.[10]

Following his release from Derbyshire, he played for Undercliffe Cricket Club in the

Bradford Cricket League and then emigrated to South Africa.[2][11] He was working as assistant groundsman at the Wanderers Stadium in Johnannesburg, and only a month before his death had helped to prepare the pitch for the Test against Australia.[2]

Death

On 28 April 1997, at the age of 52, Harvey-Walker was shot dead at a private club in the Berea neighbourhood of Johannesburg.[12] Apparently, a gunman walked into the bar, called out Harvey-Walker's name, and shot him when he responded.[3][13]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Ashley Harvey-Walker". CricketArchive. 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  2. ^ a b c d "Ashley Harvey-Walker - Profile in Wisden Cricketers Almanack". ESPNcricinfo. 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Wisden - Obituaries in 1997". ESPNcricinfo. 1998. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  4. ^ "International Cricketers" (PDF). Strathallan School. September 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  5. ^ a b c "Teams Ashley Harvey-Walker played for". CricketArchive. 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  6. ^ "Derbyshire vs. Oxford University, 23–25 June 1971". CricketArchive. 2003. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  7. ^ "Hundred in first match for Derbyshire". CricketArchive. 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  8. ^ "Death of a groundsman - the strange case of Ashley Harvey-Walker". www.countycricketnews.co.uk. 26 July 2011. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  9. ^ a b c "Bird still foxed by day snow stopped play". The Daily Telegraph. 22 June 2005. Retrieved 16 November 2006.
  10. ^ 1979 Derbyshire Yearbook
  11. ^ "Club History". Undercliffe Cricket Club. 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  12. ProQuest 312631660
    .
  13. ^ "Death by Misadventure" by P Thorn & K.Bartlett. In ACS Journal 2006-8
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