Walter Cornock

Walter Berkeley Cornock (1 January 1921 – 20 November 2007) was an Australian football goalkeeper and first-class cricketer. Born in Waverley, Sydney; he moved to the United Kingdom and played in the Football League for Rochdale and played first-class cricket for Leicestershire. He also saw active service in the navy in Africa during the Second World War.

Cornock was born to an Australian father and English mother. His family returned to England while he was a child.

Football career
Cornock played for Royton Amateurs before joining Ashton National. When National stopped playing in 1940 with the onset of the Second World War, Cornock switched to local rivals Ashton United who were still playing. He made his debut for Ashton United in September 1940 against Droylsden playing fourteen times, with his last game coming away to Denton United in late December the same year. He served in the Royal Navy during the war and saw active service in Africa and the North sea, he served on Corvettes, and was on K49 (Crocus) (movie The Cruel Sea). On the resumption of competitive football, Cornock joined Oldham Athletic, playing six times during the 1945–46 season. He then joined non-league Hereford United before joining Rochdale where he made one appearance in the Football League, a 2–0 defeat at home to Hartlepools United in November 1947. Having returned to Australia in 1948, Cornock made his Australian soccer debut for Corrimal in April 1949.

Cricket career
Cornock was a right-handed batsman and a left-armed bowler, slightly below medium pace. In 1941 he set a league record score of 197 not out while playing for Royton Cricket Club against Ashton in the Central Lancashire Cricket League. He spent the 1948 season with Leicestershire scoring over 800 runs and taking 15 expensive wickets. Notable wickets included those of another footballing cricketer, Denis Compton, future England international Tom Graveney and contemporary England players John Dewes and Joe Hardstaff.

He returned to Australia at the end of the 1948 cricket season, and later joined the Cumberland Cricket Club in Australia. He captained the side during Richie Benaud's absences on national team duty during the 1959–60, 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons and continued to play until his fifties. He was also both president and club-secretary at Cumberland and was responsible with son John for the building of a sightscreen on the club's ground. The ground is now home to the Parramatta Cricket Club and the sightscreen has been renamed in Cornock's honour.