The son of a chartered accountant, Micky Walford was educated at Rugby School where he played cricket, rugby and hockey. From 1931, when he made his cricket first XI début at the age of 15, he played 108 consecutive matches for the school at the three sports. After Rugby, Walford went to Trinity College, Oxford, where he became a triple Blue in his three favourite sports. During his time at University, he twice had trials for the England rugby XV and, despite not getting selected, often travelled with the team as a reserve. A fellow three-quarter at Oxford was the famous “Flying Russian Prince”, Alex Obolensky who, in 1935, scored probably the greatest try ever seen at Twickenham, for England against the All Blacks.
An England hockey international on 17 occasions, many as captain, Walford won a silver medal with the Great Britain team at the 1948 London Olympics. It was as a cricketer, however, that Walford was better known, and between 1935-53 he played 97 First Class matches for Oxford University and Somerset. He scored 5,327 First Class runs, with a highest score of 264, against Hampshire in 1947. Had his Somerset appearances not been restricted to school holidays, as he was a schoolteacher at Sherborne School, he would surely have been called up to the England team. After ending his playing days at Somerset, Walford returned to Minor Counties cricket. Having played for Durham in 1937, he then spent nine seasons with Dorset until retiring in 1962. In 1955, when aged 39, Walford became the first Minor Counties cricketer since 1911 to score 1,000 runs in a season. After his cricketing days, he took to the more sedate pastime of sailing.
Great Britain