Recently shared footage from popular online cricket archivist Rob Moody – a.k.a. Robelinda2 – shows West Indies legend Courtney Walsh facing his first ball in Test cricket in hilarious fashion.
The first of Walsh’s 132 Tests came against Australia at Perth in 1984 and it’s fair to say that his first involvement in the match wasn’t an accurate forewarning for what his impact 0n the game would be.
Coming in at No.11 to join Larry Gomes at the crease, Walsh’s first ball in Test cricket was delivered by Rodney Hogg, the veteran Australia seamer, who was playing in what would end up being his last series in the Test game. Even as Hogg ran up, the odd fluidity of Walsh’s arms suggested something outside the orthodox might follow. Hogg offered up a relatively innocuous back-of-a-length delivery outside off stump at no great pace. Walsh made quite the meal out of it, to put mildly.
🤣
A sign of the batting antics to come over the next 17 years…
Courtney Walsh faces his 1st ball in test cricket pic.twitter.com/uAt6uHvk3j
— Rob Moody (@robelinda2) December 8, 2020
When prodding his bat forward, Walsh jumped with both feet off the ground and lost his footing on the way down, almost completing a full splits before grinning as he got back to his feet.
On commentary, Tony Greig exclaimed: “He’s down. I tell you what, he must have come perilously close to dislodging those bails.” Walsh would end the innings unbeaten on nine. In 263 further innings in international cricket, he never once passed 30.
