Thread: Vale Max Walker

Max Walker dead at 68

Max Walker, one of Australian sport's larger-than-life characters in his heyday as a cricketer and raconteur, and battled prostate cancer post-retirement, has died aged 68.

The larrikin from Hobart, Tasmania, with the famous handlebar moustache and indomitable spirit, was a hard-nosed fast bowler in 34 Tests between 1972 and 1977, taking 138 wickets at 27.47, including six five-wicket hauls, and 17 one-day internationals. He was the first Tasmanian to be picked for a Test since C.L. Badcock in 1936.


Among the highlights of his career, he would feature in the 1977 Centenary Test at the MCG, and post playing would also be known for the television commercials with the catch phrase: "Have a good weekend, Mr Walker".

Walker was always prepared to see the funny side of life - and himself - and once described in typical jest how West Indian greats Viv Richards and Joel Garner were so desperate to empty their bladders they stopped their car on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Walker described himself as a "two-metre tangle of not so terrifically co-ordinated arms and legs".

In How to Kiss a Crocodile, he also aptly summed up "contemporary sport" as having "so much hype, gobbledegook or just plain bulldust rammed down the throat of potential champions I really feel for them. It must be almost as difficult as being a 'sifter' in Bart Cummings' stable - sifting the chaff from the horse dung".

Walker finished his autobiography simply: "One thing is certain. Cricket has given me a great deal of pleasure and a host of happy memories. Who could ask for anything more?"

Max Walker died of blood cancer not melanoma: family