Vic Walker was a hard-hitting and innovative batsman
May 3, 2023
While Vic Walker excelled in several sports, cricket was his favourite.
The former Ontario wicketkeeper/batsman passed away on April 2 at age 91.
Leaving British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1951, Walker joined Yorkshire Cricket Club where he was a member for over five decades.
He captained the club for nearly a decade and was a member of several Ontario teams.
On their way to England for the inaugural 1975 World Cup and the Ashes, Australia played five limited-overs matches in Canada, the last three at Toronto Cricket Club ground.
Walker represented the province in the penultimate game less than 24 hours after Eastern Canada upset the Aussies by five wickets.
Former International Cricket Council (ICC) Americas Regional Development Manager Martin Vieira was among the spectators at the ground for the second to last contest.
“Some of the fans, including my club mates (Victoria Park) were egging Gary Gilmour to bowl a bouncer to Walker who loved to hook,” he recalled. “The left-arm fast bowler obliged and broke Vic’s nose.”
Walker, added Vieira, was a talented cricketer, very sound batsman and an exceptional human being.
At the 1979 World Cup in England, he was Canada’s Assistant Manager.
Cricket Canada Hall of Fame inductee Franklyn Dennis, who recorded a game-high 57 not out for Eastern Canada in the historic win over the Aussies four years earlier, was in the squad.
“Vic was easy to get along with, but he wanted to play with us,” he said. “He had his cricket gear with him ready to go if called upon.”
As a player, Dennis said Walker was innovative.
“This guy took good balls bowled outside the off stump and deposited them with ease through square leg and mid-wicket,” he said. “He loved the game, was unselfish and very competitive and just a joy to be around.”
Former Ontario Cricket Association President Austin Ward, who played a season with Grace Church in the early 1970s before joining Dovercourt Cricket Club, remembers the first time he saw Walker bat.
“We played Yorkshire at Upper Canada College my first year here and Vic was pulling balls from outside the off stump through the leg-side and over the boundary on several occasions,” he said. “Vic was a very good player and a decent person.”
The late Vic Walker (l) & Leslie Wight with Joe Castanheiro (Photo by Ron Fanfair)
The hard-hitting batsman was a member of the Ontario team that beat British Columbia to win the Hiram Trophy in 1958.
Walker captained the 1959 provincial side that brushed aside Ottawa to capture the Lord Atholstan Trophy. That same year, he led Ontario against the visiting Marleybone Cricket Club team from England captained by the late Dennis Silk who chaired the Test & County Cricket Board in the 1990s.
In 1989, Walker was awarded the Ontario Championship Certificate.
“Vic was a very jovial and friendly character and just great company to be in,” said former Canadian cricket administrator Errol Townshend.
Walker was laid to rest on April 11.
He is survived by Mell Walker, his wife of 65 years.
After the Vietnam War in the mid-1970s, the couple welcomed five young refugees in their then Agincourt home. They were part of a 14-member family sponsored by a local Catholic church.
