Hayden Walsh Jr isn’t stalked in India for selfies, not yet. Unless of course he is wearing the West Indies maroon when fans indifferently seek a selfie, sometimes without even knowing who the player is. But after his twin strikes at the Thiruvananthapuram T20 against India, Walsh says he is quite sure those days are behind him.
The name Hayden Walsh Jr evokes curiosity. It involves two cricketers rolled into one, and what’s the Jr about? “Yeah…sometimes, when I was in the Canada (T20) league, some people would call me Courtney Walsh. My father is not Courtney Walsh (either),” he said. “But I guess, now, they will know who I am and who my father is.”
The 27-year-old leg-spinner, comes from a cricketing lineage. His father Walsh Sr as well as his uncle, played cricket for Leeward Islands. A painful twist of fate robbed Walsh Jr of his father who died following a stroke aged only 46. For Walsh, 17 at the time, his father was his cricket mentor.
Dad’s memories
Recently, after Walsh spun his magic in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), master of presentation ceremonies, Ian Bishop asked him, “How much does your mind go back to your father?” Walsh choked while answering, “Every day.”
Walsh wasn’t a runaway hit for Barbados Tridents, his CPL team to start with. Born in US Virgin Islands, Walsh, whose parents are from Antigua, made use of his dual passports to debut for the USA last year.
But after falling off with USA Cricket following a change in regime, finding his way up as a smaller fish in the bigger West Indies’ pond was the only respectful option left.
He finished with 22 wickets in 9 CPL matches last year and was crowned MVP of the league. “It’s been like a roller-coaster for me. I have been working hard, trying to find my way to the top of international cricket. Just to be here (in India) and perform is all you want,” he told reporters after West Indies beat India for the first time in eight matches.
Googly to boot
When Walsh came in to bowl on Sunday, the slog was on with the hard-hitting left-hander Shivam Dube on fire. A googly did the trick. It enticed Dube, who holed out at covers.
“I practised bowling to left-handers a lot when we were in Mumbai,” he said.
“I was bowling those googlies to Evin (Lewis) and Nicolas (Pooran), that I bowled to Dube. So, I was pretty confident,” he added.
Walsh finished with figures of 2/28 of his four overs, out-bowling his counterpart Yajuvendra Chahal, India’s joint-leading T20 wicket-taker.
From USA to the West Indies, to the land of spin—India: Walsh has been living a cricket dream. With the IPL auctions 10 days away (leg-spinners are always in demand in the league), Walsh has got the timing just right. Is the IPL auction at the back of his mind?
“Ahhh..yeah,” he said. “But the main thing is to win this series. The goal right now, for me, is to win the series, and help the team do its best.”
