Born in Basildon, Essex, Paul Ian Walter signed his first professional contract with the Club in June 2016 after impressing on trial, following strong performances for his club side Hornchurch Cricket Club, where he notoriously hit six sixes in a single over.
The 6’7” all-rounder began his career as a left-arm seamer and, in 2017, finished as Essex’s leading wicket-taker in the Vitality Blast, claiming 15 wickets. Over time, his batting came to the fore, and he is now a regular member of all Essex squads - capable of opening the batting, anchoring the middle order, and contributing with the ball as a valuable rotating option.
Between 2018 and 2022, Walter averaged over 36 with the bat in red-ball cricket and finally reached a well-deserved milestone in 2022, scoring his maiden first-class century against Yorkshire, having previously fallen in the nineties on three occasions.
Walter was first drafted into The Hundred in 2022 as injury cover, but he quickly made his mark, finishing that campaign as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. He has featured in the competition every year since. In 119 T20 matches for Essex, Walter has scored 1,881 runs with a highest score of 78, while his short-format bowling record for the Club includes 68 wickets.
In September 2023, during the lunch interval on Day One of the County Championship match against Hampshire at Chelmsford, Walter was awarded his County Cap, becoming the 166th Essex player to receive the honour.
As of the end of the 2025 season, Walter has made 65 first-class appearances for Essex, scoring 3,258 runs at an average of 39.25. Though much of his career has been spent in the middle order, he took on a new challenge at the start of the 2025 season by moving up to open the batting.
