David Robert Walsh (born 17 December 1946) is a former English

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er and current cricket administrator. He is also a historian.

Education

Walsh was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

, where he captained the First XI in 1964 and 1965 and played in the annual match for the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

(MCC) Schools XI against

Combined Services The Combined Services cricket team represents the British Armed Forces. The team played at first-class level in England for more than forty years in the mid-twentieth century. Their first first-class match was against Gentlemen of England at Lo ...

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

., and then captained MCC Schools on their tour of South Africa 1965-66. He went up to

Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Cricket career

A middle-order batsman, Walsh made his first-class debut for

in 1966, scoring 56 against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

in his second match, but was unable to maintain his form and lost his place in the side. He struggled again in 1967, but kept his place in a weak side, and "fought his way doggedly out of his past to achieve reliability". He played all 15 of Oxford's matches, scoring 325 runs at an average of 16.25 with a top score of 46. In the six matches he played in 1968 he was more successful, and he finished with 300 runs at 33.33. He hit 76 not out in the second innings against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

("a splendid defensive innings") and 65 and 28 against

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

at Lord's, adding 131 for the second wicket with the captain,

Fred Goldstein Fred Goldstein was a member of the Secretariat, the six-member leading body, of the American Workers World Party The Workers World Party (WWP) is a Marxist–Leninist communist party in the United States founded in 1959 by a group led by Sa ...

. In the third match in 1969 he "produced a variety of strokes hitherto unseen from him" when he scored 207 against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, with 32 fours and two sixes, adding 270 for the sixth wicket with

Stuart Westley Stuart Alker Westley (born 21 March 1947) is a former English cricketer. Westley was a right-handed batsman who fielded as a wicket-keeper. Following his cricket career he became a prominent educator and teachers leader. He was born in Preston, ...

. He also scored 138 and 41 against D.H. Robins' XI. He finished the season with 748 runs at 37.40, and played in his third

University match The University Match is an annual cricket fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club. First played in 1827, it is the oldest varsity match in the world. Until 2001, when first-class cricket was reorga ...

. He played seven matches between 1966 and 1972 for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

Second XI, but all his first-class cricket was for Oxford University.

Later career

After two years teaching at

Melbourne Grammar School Melbourne Grammar School is an Australian private school, private Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Day school, day and boarding school. It comprises a co-educational preparatory school from Prep to Year 6 and a middle school and senior s ...

, Walsh was appointed to

Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...

in 1972 and spent the rest of his career there, retiring in 2009 as Second Master. He was Chairman of Headmasters' Conference Schools cricket for twenty years. He has held various administrative positions with the

(MCC), including twice being elected by members to the MCC Committee, and was a trustee of the MCC Foundation. He has also been President of the Yellowhammers Cricket Club from 2008-2024, Honorary Treasurer of the Cricketer Cup 2002-16 and Honorary Secretary of the Cricketer Cup since 2016. Walsh is the author of three books. ''A Duty to Serve: Tonbridge School and the 1939-45 War'' was published by Third Millennium in 2011; ''Public Schools and the Great War: The Generation Lost'', co-written with Sir

Anthony Seldon Sir Anthony Francis Seldon (born 2 August 1953) is a British contemporary historian and educator. As an author, he is known for his political biographies of consecutive British Prime Ministers, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, David Camer ...

, was published in 2013 by

Pen & Sword Pen and Sword Books, also stylised as Pen & Sword, is a British publisher which specialises in printing and distributing books in both hardback and softback on military history, militaria and other niche subjects, primarily focused on the Unit ...

; ''Public Schools and the Second World War'', again co-authored with Sir Anthony Seldon, was published by Pen & Sword in August 2020. Walsh's son

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, and Christine. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian autho ...

played cricket for

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

in the 1990s.

References

External links

David Walsh at CricketArchive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, David 1946 births Living people Cricketers from Mumbai People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford English cricketers Oxford University cricketers British schoolteachers Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers English cricket administrators 21st-century English historians