Ashley Harvey-Walker

{{Infobox cricketer

| name = Ashley Harvey-Walker

| image =

| country = England

| fullname = Ashley John Harvey-Walker

| height =

| nickname =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1944|7|21|df=yes}}

| birth_place = East Ham, London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1997|4|28|1944|7|21|df=yes}}

| death_place = Johannesburg, South Africa

| batting = Right-handed

| bowling = {{ubl|Right-arm medium|Right-arm offbreak}}

| role = All-rounder

| club1 = Derbyshire

| year1 = {{nowrap|1971–1978}}

| type1 = FC

| debutdate1 = 23 June

| debutyear1 = 1971

| debutfor1 = Derbyshire

| debutagainst1 = Oxford Univ.

| lastdate1 = 18 July

| lastyear1 = 1978

| lastfor1 = Derbyshire

| lastagainst1 = Worcestershire

| type2 = LA

| debutdate2 = 20 June

| debutyear2 = 1971

| debutfor2 = Derbyshire

| debutagainst2 = Lancashire

| lastdate2 = 13 August

| lastyear2 = 1978

| lastfor2 = Derbyshire

| lastagainst2 = Middlesex

| columns = 2

| column1 = First-class

| matches1 = 81

| runs1 = 3,186

| bat avg1 = 23.95

| 100s/50s1 = 3/19

| top score1 = 117

| deliveries1 = 2,352

| wickets1 = 34

| bowl avg1 = 33.82

| fivefor1 = 1

| tenfor1 = 1

| best bowling1 = 7/35

| catches/stumpings1 = 31/–

| column2 = List A

| matches2 = 91

| runs2 = 1,829

| bat avg2 = 22.03

| 100s/50s2 = 0/8

| top score2 = 84

| deliveries2 = 418

| wickets2 = 9

| bowl avg2 = 34.22

| fivefor2 = 0

| tenfor2 = 0

| best bowling2 = 4/37

| catches/stumpings2 = 29/–

| date = 28 April

| year = 2010

| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/30/30040/30040.html CricketArchive

}}

Ashley John Harvey-Walker (21 July 1944 – 28 April 1997) was an English cricketer who played first-class cricket for Derbyshire from 1971 to 1978.{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/30/30040/30040.html |title=Ashley Harvey-Walker |publisher=CricketArchive |year=2003 |accessdate=16 November 2006}} He was shot dead in a Johannesburg bar.{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/14612.html |title=Ashley Harvey-Walker - Profile in Wisden Cricketers Almanack |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |year=2013 |accessdate=24 October 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/228769.html |title=Wisden - Obituaries in 1997 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |year=1998 |accessdate=24 October 2013}}

Hundred on debut

Harvey-Walker was born in East Ham, London and educated at Strathallan School in Perthshire, where he was in the first XI for five years.{{cite web |url=http://www.strathallan.co.uk/cms/files/international_cricketers.pdf |title=International Cricketers |publisher=Strathallan School |date=September 2013 |access-date=24 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029193113/http://www.strathallan.co.uk/cms/files/international_cricketers.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2013 |url-status=dead }} After school he joined Warwickshire in 1963 and played for the second XI team.{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/30/30040/all_teams.html |title=Teams Ashley Harvey-Walker played for |publisher=CricketArchive |year=2003 |accessdate=16 November 2006}} He moved to Derbyshire in 1967 where he also played in the second XI. In the 1971 season he made his first team debut. He became the first Derbyshire cricketer to score a century on his debut scoring an unbeaten 110 against Oxford University at Burton-on-Trent.{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Derbyshire/Scorecards/31/31736.html |title=Derbyshire vs. Oxford University, 23–25 June 1971 |publisher=CricketArchive |year=2003 |accessdate=16 November 2006 |archive-date=1 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001023323/http://cricketarchive.com/Derbyshire/Scorecards/31/31736.html |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url-access=subscription |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Records/England/Firstclass/Derbyshire/Batting_Records/Hundred_On_Debut_For.html |title= Hundred in first match for Derbyshire |publisher=CricketArchive |year=2003 |accessdate=16 November 2006}}

Career

Harvey-Walker was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-break and medium-pace bowler. Early in his career he played purely as a top order batsman, though he struggled to hold down a regular place in a weak batting side. His best season was in 1974 when he scored 727 runs at 25.96, and also scored 448 List 'A' runs.{{cite web|url=http://www.countycricketnews.co.uk/Inside-CCN/Features/50/Death-of-a-groundsman-the-strange-case-of-Ashley-Harvey-Walker |title=Death of a groundsman - the strange case of Ashley Harvey-Walker |website=www.countycricketnews.co.uk |date=26 July 2011 |access-date=24 October 2013 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029190117/http://www.countycricketnews.co.uk/Inside-CCN/Features/50/Death-of-a-groundsman-the-strange-case-of-Ashley-Harvey-Walker |archive-date=29 October 2013 }}

In June 1975, during a match between Derbyshire and Lancashire at Buxton, a highly unseasonal snowstorm took place. To that date, it was the only first-class cricket match in history whereby, 'snow stopped play', in what was one of the hottest summers on record. Shortly after the thaw set in, Harvey-Walker came out to bat and surprised square leg umpire Dickie Bird by asking him to look after his false teeth, wrapped in a handkerchief, because he wouldn't be in for long!{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/2361401/Bird-still-foxed-by-day-snow-stopped-play.html |title=Bird still foxed by day snow stopped play |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=22 Jun 2005 |accessdate=16 November 2006}}

Not regarded as a regular bowler much beforehand, he was regularly employed when selected in the 1978 season, taking 10–82, including 7–35 in the second innings against Surrey on the notoriously uncertain wicket at Ilkeston. Despite playing in the 1978 Benson & Hedges Cup Final he was not re-engaged at the end of the season in a general clearout by the County.1979 Derbyshire Yearbook

Following his release from Derbyshire, he played for Undercliffe Cricket Club in the Bradford Cricket League and then emigrated to South Africa.{{cite web |url=http://undercliffecricketclub.co.uk/?page_id=15 |title=Club History |publisher=Undercliffe Cricket Club |year=2013 |accessdate=29 October 2013}} He was working as assistant groundsman at the Wanderers Stadium in Johnannesburg, and only a month before his death had helped to prepare the pitch for the Test against Australia.

Death

On 28 April 1997, at the age of 52, Harvey-Walker was shot dead at a private club in the Berea neighbourhood of Johannesburg.{{cite news |title=Cricket: Ashley Harvey Walker found shot dead |newspaper=The Independent |date=3 May 1997 |id = {{ProQuest|312631660}}}} Apparently, a gunman walked into the bar, called out Harvey-Walker's name, and shot him when he responded."Death by Misadventure" by P Thorn & K.Bartlett. In ACS Journal 2006-8