Roman Walker: Former county cricketer takes up darts

A former county cricketer who once took the wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma has left first-class cricket behind to discover a new sporting talent – Dart Oche.

Roman Walker, who played for Glamorgan and Leicestershire in a six-year professional career, Left the Foxes at the end of his contract in 2025 And since then he has realized that he has transferable skills that make him a very skilled darts player.

The pace bowler, who still plays minor county cricket for Shropshire, claimed 53 wickets in his professional career across all formats, including just 24 at an average of 24 in the T20 Blast.

However, he is perhaps best remembered for his figures of 5-24 for Leicestershire against India in a tour match, which also included the wickets of former captains Kohli and Sharma and talented all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja.

After leaving Leicestershire, Walker admits it took some time to adjust to being out of the professional game, but there was a release that brought life on the other side.

“With your experience in professional cricket, when you’re not in the first team every week, it’s a really tough place to be,” Walker said. told BBC Radio Shropshire.

“I fell on the wrong side of it and didn’t renew my contract, which I can swallow because it’s part of all sports and professional sports.

“There’s an element in you, though, that ‘I don’t need that pressure!’ You go back to normal life and you realize you can lead your own life, which is a freedom I never had, because I came straight from school to professional cricket.

“On the flip side, if someone pushes, I won’t be able to say no—it’s really a knife edge.”