Kohli’s conqueror to play for Kingston Hawthorn at Melbourne Country Week

A first-class paceman who’s knocked over Virat Kholi, Rohit Sharma and other stars will target bush batsmen at Melbourne Country Week.

Roman Walker will spearhead Kingston Hawthorn’s bowling attack at Country Week. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Batting at next week’s Melbourne Country Week carnival just got a lot harder.

Leicestershire paceman Roman Walker has been named in Kingston Hawthorn’s squad to compete in Division 2 against Mornington Peninsula, Bellarine Peninsula, Gisborne & District and Hamilton District.

Walker has taken some of the biggest scalps in world cricket in a handful of first-class matches.

The 24-year-old was the unlikely star of a tour match against India in 2021, dismissing Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja on his way to a five-wicket haul.

Moving the ball in the air and off the pitch, he had Kohli caught behind.

Walker was labelled “Leicestershire’s young sensation’’ in the English media at the time.

He is also a talented batsman, as he showed when he made 64 on debut for Leicestershire in 2022.

Walker is out here this summer playing playing Premier Cricket with the Hawks.

Kingston Hawthorn will field a side at the annual Country Week carnival for the second year in a row.

Nic Tindall bowling for the Hawks. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Last year the Hawks took up the opportunity to field an under-18s side in Division 2 of Country Week, helping to eliminate a bye — although the side ended up being a mix of youngsters and older, more experienced players.

The same will be the case this year.

“We enjoyed it so much last year that when the invite came we basically said to the club members, ‘is this something you’d like to do again?’,’’ Kingston Hawthorn coach Colin Siller said.

“And there were a lot who said, ‘yeah, we definitely want to play again this year’.

“We are getting a squad together. We used 20 players over the four days last year.’’

The Hawks’ side will also include promising teenage all-rounder Nic Tindall, who has impressed with bat and ball in 10 First XI matches this season.

Kingston Hawthorn meets Mornington Peninsula, which will have seven debutants, including 15-year-old Flinders gun Sam Field, in the opening round at Frankston on Monday, February 10.

Kingston Hawthorn’s Country Week squad:

Herbie Fischbacher, Hamish McKenzie, Luke Ajani, Redwan Garcia, Noah McCullough, Lucas Kennedy, Nic Tindall, Adi Chowdry, Brad Stow, Shaurya Shukla, Avneet Ghuman, Jack Weintraub, Ishtpreet Kairon, Jamie Moraitis, Cory Cater, Roman Walker, Aidan Sheffield