| Ivan Walsh | |
| Fullname: | Ivan Alexander Walsh |
| Position: | Forward |
| Birth Date: | 29 December 1924 |
| Birth Place: | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Death Place: | Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Clubs1: | Northern |
| Nationalyears1: | 1951 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 4 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 4 |
| Nationalteam1: | New Zealand |
Ivan Alexander Walsh (29 December 1924 – 12 May 2005) was an association football player who represented New Zealand at international level as a forward.[1] He was also a first-class cricketer.[2]
Walsh was born in 1924 at Dunedin and was educated at the Christian Brothers School there.[3] [4] He played soccer for the Northern Club in the city and by 1948 was playing for the Otago representative side.[5] [6]
Walsh scored on his full New Zealand debut in a 6–4 win over New Caledonia on 22 September 1951[7] and ended his international playing career with four official A-international caps and four goals to his credit,[8] scoring a hat-trick in his final appearance, a 9–0 win over New Hebrides on 4 October 1951.
| Batting: | Right-handed |
| Bowling: | Right-arm medium |
| Role: | Bowler |
| Club1: | Otago |
| Columns: | 1 |
| Column1: | First-class |
| Matches1: | 3 |
| Runs1: | 2 |
| Bat Avg1: | 1.00 |
| 100S/50S1: | 0/0 |
| Top Score1: | 2 |
| Deliveries1: | 665 |
| Wickets1: | 8 |
| Bowl Avg1: | 33.75 |
| Fivefor1: | 0 |
| Tenfor1: | 0 |
| Best Bowling1: | 5/76 |
| Catches/Stumpings1: | 3/– |
| Date: | 4 June |
| Year: | 2024 |
| Source: | https://www.espncricinfo.com/cricketers/ivan-walsh-38787 Cricinfo |
Walsh also played cricket at a representative level. A right-arm medium paced bowler, he played for the North East Valley club in Dunedin alongside his brother Brian.[9] [10] Considered "one of the most promising medium-paced bowlers" that Otago had "had for some years" with "exceptional promise",[11] he played three times for Otago in the Plunket Shield.[12] He made his debut for the side in January 1949, opening the bowling and taking seven wickets, including a five-wicket haul in the first innings, against Wellington at Carisbrook.[10] [13] [14]
The Otago Daily Times felt that he was the "find of the match"[11] and it was expected that he would become one of the "mainstays" of the Otago side in future seasons.[10] After taking seven wickets against Southland in a non-first-class match in December 1949, Walsh was included in the Otago side for the season's Shield matches in 1949–50.[15] He played in the first two matches but took only one wicket and was left out of the side for the final Shield match of the season against Canterbury.[12] [16] He was not selected in the Otago practice squad later in the season and did not regain his place in the side in future seasons.[17]
Walsh worked as a teacher.[3] He died at Dunedin in 2005 aged 80.[4] [14] Obituaries were published in the 2005 New Zealand Cricket Almanack and in the 2006 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.[3]