{{short description|Australian cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2012}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Frank Walters | fullname = Francis Henry Walters | image = Frank Walters of Australia.png | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1860|2|9}} | birth_place = East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1922|6|1|1860|2|9}} | death_place = at sea, off Bombay, India | height = {{height|m=1.89}} | batting = Right-handed | bowling = Right-arm medium-pace | club1 = Victoria | year1 = {{nowrap|1880/81–1893/94}} | club2 = New South Wales | year2 = 1895/96 | columns = 2 | column1 = Tests | matches1 = 1 | runs1 = 12 | bat avg1 = 6.00 | 100s/50s1 = 0/0 | top score1 = 7 | deliveries1 = 0 | wickets1 = 0 | bowl avg1 = – | fivefor1 = 0 | tenfor1 = 0 | best bowling1 = – | catches/stumpings1= 2/0 | column2 = First-class | matches2 = 56 | runs2 = 1755 | bat avg2 = 20.17 | 100s/50s2 = 4/5 | top score2 = 150 | deliveries2 = 146 | wickets2 = 1 | bowl avg2 = 81.00 | fivefor2 = 0 | tenfor2 = 0 | best bowling2 = 1/17 | catches/stumpings2= 31/0 | international = true | country = Australia | testdebutfor = | testdebutagainst = England | testdebutdate = 21 March | testdebutyear = 1885 | testcap = 42 | onetest = true | lasttestdate = 21 March | lasttestfor = | lasttestagainst = | lasttestyear = 1885 | source = https://www.espncricinfo.com/player/frank-walters-8149 Cricinfo | date = | year = }} '''Francis Henry Walters''' (9 February 1860 – 1 June 1922) was an Australian cricketer. He played in one Test match in March 1885, and played first-class cricket from 1881 to 1896.<ref>{{cite web |title=Frank Walters |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/0/91/91.html |publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 March 2022}}</ref>
==Life and career== Beginning with Victoria in 1880–81, Walters had played six first-class matches, with a top score of 32, when he was selected for his only Test, the Fifth Test against England in 1884–85. Batting in the middle order, he scored 7 and 5, and England won by an innings and thus won the series 3–2.<ref>{{cite web |title=5th Test, Melbourne, Mar 21 – 25 1885, England tour of Australia |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/england-tour-of-australia-1884-85-61734/australia-vs-england-5th-test-62416/full-scorecard |publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=27 March 2022}}</ref> He reached 50 for the first time, and went on to score 122, for The Rest against the Australian XI in 1888–89, and it was probably this innings that led to his selection in the Australian team to tour England in 1890.<ref name=OCAC>''The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket'', Oxford, Melbourne, 1996, p. 561.</ref>
Walters was not successful in England, scoring 351 runs at an average of only 10.02.<ref name=OCAC/> He displayed his best form in the seasons after the tour, when other players were preferred for the Australian team. Opening the innings for Victoria against New South Wales in 1890–91, he scored 106 in a team total of 181.<ref>{{cite web |title=New South Wales v Victoria 1890-91 |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/3/3657.html |publisher=CricketArchive|access-date=27 March 2022}}</ref>
He moved to Sydney in 1895 after purchasing the Criterion Hotel there, and played a few matches in 1895–96 for New South Wales. All four of his first-class centuries were scored at the Sydney Cricket Ground.<ref name=OCAC/> Writing after Walters' death, the Test player and journalist Jack Worrall said, "He was class enough for any company in the land as a batsman, though he was particularly slow in the field."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=J.W. |title=The Death of Frank Walters |journal=The Australasian |date=17 June 1922 |page=26 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/140233628}}</ref>
Walters married Clara Louisa Barber in Melbourne in January 1884.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Marriages |journal=The Argus|location=Melbourne|date=22 January 1909 |page=11 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/10690261}}</ref> He became a prosperous real estate investor in Sydney.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Well-Known Cricketer |journal=The Sun |date=6 June 1922 |page=7 |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/223943354}}</ref> He died at sea off Bombay<ref group="note">According to cricket authorities, but contemporary newspaper reports say he died after his ship left Colombo for Sydney.</ref> while he and his wife were returning to Australia after an extended holiday in England.<ref name=OCAC/>
==See also== * List of Victoria first-class cricketers * List of New South Wales representative cricketers
==Notes== {{Reflist|group="note"}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commonscatinline}} * {{cricinfo|id=8149}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walters, Frank}} Category:1860 births Category:1922 deaths Category:Australia Test cricketers Category:New South Wales cricketers Category:Victoria cricketers Category:Melbourne Cricket Club cricketers Category:Australian cricketers Category:Cricketers from Melbourne Category:People who died at sea Category:People from East Melbourne