Derek John Walker (born 23 November 1959) is a New Zealand

cricket umpire In cricket, an umpire (from the Old French meaning not a peer, i.e. not a member of one of the teams, impartial) is a person who has the authority to make decisions about events on the cricket field according to the ''Laws of Cricket''. Besides ...

and former cricketer. He was a member of the

International Panel of Umpires and Referees The International Panel of ICC Umpires was established by the ICC in 1994 following trial in 1992/3, to ensure that one neutral umpire would stand in every Test match.Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...

in 1959.McCarron A (2010) ''New Zealand Cricketers 1863/64–2010'', p. 135. Cardiff:

The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

.
Available online
at the

Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was founded in England in 1973 for the purpose of researching and collating information about the history and statistics of cricket. Originally called the Association of Cricket Stati ...

. Retrieved 5 June 2023.) He played for Otago age-group sides from the 1979–80 season before playing in England for

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called th ...

's Second XI during the 1980 season and making his senior debut for Otago at the end of December 1980.Derek Walker
CricketArchive. Retrieved 9 February 2024. Described as "one of the regulars in the Otago team during the 1980s", he played 71 senior matches for the provincial side as an

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...

, scoring 1,562 first-class runs and taking 19 wickets.McConnell L (2003
Otago Cricket gets development programme rolling

CricInfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a Sports journalism, sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including Liveblogging, liveblogs and sco ...

, 12 August 2003. Retrieved 9 February 2024.Seconi A (2020
Umpire brings up a hundred of his own
''

Otago Daily Times The ''Otago Daily Times'' (''ODT'') is a newspaper published by Allied Press Ltd in Dunedin, New Zealand. The ''ODT'' is one of the country's four main daily newspapers, serving the southern South Island with a circulation of around 26,000 and ...

'', 12 March 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2024. As well as playing in New Zealand, Walker played English league cricket for 20 seasons and appeared for

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

's Second XI, under-25 and club and ground sides between 1981 and 1984. In the later year he also played for

Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Cambridgeshire including the Isle of Ely. The original Cambridgeshire clu ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

and went on to work as the sports development officer at University College, Worcester before taking on the role of sport and business development manager at the university. Walker is qualified as a cricket coach and has "built a reputation" in the field in

Otago Otago (, ; ) is a regions of New Zealand, region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island and administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local go ...

and the UK. In 2003 he became Otago's district development coach for the

North Otago North Otago is an area in New Zealand that covers the area of the Otago region between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama (which has experienced rapid growth as a developing centre f ...

region. He made his debut as a top-level umpire in 2004–05,Seconi A (2020
Walker plays down award as top umpire
''

'', 2 September 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2024. and has umpired at men's and women's international level. He has stood in over 100 first-class matches, List A and

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches in New Zealand. He was named New Zealand domestic cricket's umpire of the year in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Derek 1959 births Living people New Zealand cricketers New Zealand cricket umpires New Zealand One Day International cricket umpires New Zealand Twenty20 International cricket umpires Otago cricketers Cambridgeshire cricketers New Zealand expatriate cricketers in England

See also

References