By Neto Baptiste
Antiguan cricketer Hayden Walsh Jr said his game has grown tremendously since making his debut for the West Indies senior men’s team in November 2019 against Afghanistan.
The spinner, who turned out for local club team PIC Liberta Blackhawks in the domestic Two Day competition last weekend, said there is always room for improvement in everything but believes he is a much smarter bowler today than he was three years ago.
“I used to bowl like fast leg-break and a fast googly, but now I know when to slow it down and when to push it through. So, I think that in all of that I am seeing maturity in myself and I am proud of that,” he said.
Walsh has claimed a total of 26 wickets in 20 ODI matches, giving up 810 runs in process. The Leeward Islands player has a best of five wickets for 39 runs. In T20 matches, Walsh has taken 25 wickets in 28 matches for 592 runs and a best of three for 23.
The bowler, who said he is now in preparation mode for the pending T20 series against India, said he was happy to have had a good T20 series against the Netherlands in May.
“Pakistan, I would say, was a really tough tour because one, I didn’t get a lot of wickets and two, everything around it was very tough. We were playing in 100 degree weather and the security around Pakistan can make you feel a little claustrophobic so even though I didn’t get as much wickets, I still think that going at six [runs] an over in Pakistan, I still felt as if I was still there, still in the fight,” he said.
Walsh, over the weekend, scored a total of 161 runs over two innings while claiming three wickets for 16 runs to help Blackhawks to a first innings triumph over All Saints Pythons.