By Bob Utber
Restricted member James Walder is 83. He has two major aims in life at the moment.
Firstly, to obtain full MCC membership, which is a couple of years down the track and secondly, to be present at his 200th Test, which is likely to be at the `G, sitting in the comfort of the balcony.
James and his late twin brother Robert have been constants at the `G since the famous cricket series of 1960-61 when the West Indies visited.
Everyone would have recognised the twins as they were identical, even dressed the same like the most famous of cricket twins Alex and Eric Bedser. Robert died two years ago.
The Walder boys come from a sporting family domiciled in Mildura. There were and are many Walders in town and at one stage the cricket team they played for was made up of Walders - seven brothers and four cousins.
It is not hard to guess that James is a sports lover. He’s a dyed in the wool Essendon supporter. He has seen every Grand Final since that summer, even when based in outback West or South Australia.
His last game of cricket was as captain-coach of the Olympic Dam team in the Woomera Cricket League in 1987. “I had a gammy knee and just could not move enough to continue playing the game I loved since I first started playing senior cricket as a 13 year-old,” he said.
When opting to apply for full membership he was unsure whether he would ever make it. “We only put our names down in 1997 thanks to “Stacky” (Keith Stackpole) who said to us on a Test tour that we should put our names in. Stacky got Ken Jacobs (Cricket Victoria) to endorse it,” he said.
In the meantime the boys continued to go on Test tours around the world and they were not all games in which Australia played. They have seen all the Test nations played and Pakistan this year was the last on James’s list of countries to visit for Tests.
The ambition to reach 200 Tests is ingrained in James's psyche and he is determined that it will be at the `G by the 2024-25 summer. International tours in 2023 will be to India (four Tests), England (seven Tests) and back home in Australia series against Pakistan and the Windies.
“I reckon I can fiddle it so I see my 200th at the `G,” he said.
James just loves the `G and has met so many wonderful people who are sports aficionados like he is. “You might not see people for twelve months but there they are at the `G for the Tests,” he said.
When asked about his special moment at the `G he unhesitatingly says, “Warnie’s hat trick.” He just loves Warnie. His favourite footballer is James Hird and favourite Australian batter is Ricky Ponting. He loved Rohan Kanhai.
James comes from the old school and when they changed the Adelaide Test to a day-nighter he refused to go. But this year he relented, and attended, although he left when the lights came on!
