Although obviously not every current fast bowler in the world was able to take part in this event, there were 9 taking part, including Courtney himself. Sadly neither Allan Donald or Curtly Ambrose were avaliable, but never the less, it was a fine display of fast bowling by some of the best.
The participants were allowed to loosen up with a few deliveries first, then they bowled in pairs (and one threesome) with 3 deliveries each.
Results as follows, with the three recorded speeds after the bowlers name.
Pair One
Franklyn Rose- 86/88/88
Ed Giddins- 83/85/86
Pair Two
Nixon McLean- 85/86/86
Devon Malcolm- 88/86/88
Pair Three
Andy Caddick- 84/86/87
Javagal Srinath- 74/75/76
The Threesome
Ian Bishop- 79/82/83
David "Sid" Lawrence- 79/77/78
Courtney Walsh- 80/81/81/83
OK- Courtney did have 4 deliveries, but it was his day, so no-one minded. He then also had a 5th delivery- with an apple! Which broke into many pieces on hitting the ground. Pity it wasn't an orange as then Courtney could have bowled a jaffa. (Sorry)
The Final
As both Devon Malcolm and Franklyn Rose achieved speeds of 88mph, they
each had two deliveries to decide the winner
Devon Malcolm- 86/88
Franklyn Rose- 86/86
So Englands Devon Malcolm was the winner and won a Waterford Crystal Bowl worth 750.00 for his efforts.
A big Thank You to Andrew Needs for recording the bowling speeds for me.
Walking back to his mark to bowl again
I am quite proud of these photos. The crowd were allowed to sit on the pitch, at a safe distance. I knew it would probably be my only chance ever to take action shots of Courtney bowling. I had no idea how they would turn out.
The two teams were
| Courtney Walsh XI | Jack Russell XI |
| Philo Wallace | Kevin Curran |
| Ian Bishop | Mark Alleyne |
| Brian Lara | Chris Lewis |
| Keith Arthurton | Matt Windows |
| Jimmy Adams | Jack Russell |
| Roger Harper | John Bracewell |
| Courtney Walsh | Andy Caddick |
| Javagal Srinath | Ed Giddins |
| Nixon McLean | Jon Lewis |
| Franklyn Rose | Devon Malcolm |
| Kelvin Williams | David Lawrence |
During the bowling competition, the crowd were allowed to sit on the pitch, obviously at a safe distance for safety reasons. Courtney decided that a group of children were too close to the wicket at what would have been the strikers end, and with much waving and flapping of his extra-long arms, he managed very effective crowd control.
Courtney was in very good spirits all day, chatting to people and just generally enjoying the occasion. He had a shop in a marquee selling West Indies cricket souvenirs and his benefit brochure, and he took some time out to go and sit there and sign autographs. I decided to get a copy of his brochure signed, and can report that Courtney is almost the same height as me- when he is sitting down! He duly signed for me and just for a moment, I had direct eye contact with my hero!
There was also a collection for Courtney which netted 550.00 and a washer. (A later collection during the Cheltenham festival netted about the same amount with a dog tag with the name Rover on it!). Sadly I had to leave before the collection, otherwise I would have donated myself to Courtney!
A very enjoyable day, a crowd of about 2,000, and in our cool damp summer of 98, it was even a warm, if overcast, day.
Last update 6th Aug 1998.