A former county cricketer who once dismissed Indian superstars Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma has swapped the cricket pitch for the darts oche after being released from his professional contract. Roman Walker, 25, played for Glamorgan and Leicestershire over six years before leaving the Foxes at the end of his contract in 2025. Now, he’s making a name for himself in the Central England Darts League, where he believes his background in elite sport gives him a mental edge.
Walker, a pace bowler, took 53 wickets across all formats in his professional career, including impressive figures of 5-24 for Leicestershire in a tour match against India that featured the scalps of Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja. Despite his success, he found the pressures of professional cricket challenging.
"Through the experiences you have in professional cricket, when you are not necessarily in the first-team every week, it is a really tough place to be," Walker told BBC Radio Shropshire. "I fell off the wrong side of it and didn't renew my contract, which I can swallow because it's all part of the game and professional sport.
Leaving the professional circuit gave Walker a sense of liberation he had never experienced. "There is an element of you, though, that goes 'I don't need that stress!' You go into normal life and you realise you can lead your own life, which is a freedom I've not had ever, because I went straight from school into professional cricket."
Walker, still playing minor counties cricket for Shropshire, has embraced his new sporting venture. Having joined the Central England Darts League, he's already noticing how his cricketing skills translate.
"I absolutely love it," he said. "There are small advantages you can take, in terms of the mental game, from cricket into darts. It's very interchangeable, which has automatically given me a step up on some of the other players I play against on a Monday night in the CEDL.
With a decade to go until he turns 35, Walker has set his sights high: earning a PDC Tour card within the next ten years. "We all start somewhere, but I'm getting there," he added. "I got myself into a finals qualifier for..."
For now, the former Foxes fast bowler is enjoying the freedom and camaraderie of the local darts scene. "I am really enjoying it and I don't think I've met a bad person who I've played against, or with on a team. It has opened my eyes to the freedom of life and what else is out there."