Max Walker has  reinvented himself time and again; from batsman to bowler, from radio star to television face, from architect to writer.

From a one-time self-confessed “fountain pen dinosaur”, Walker has emerged and reinvented himself time and again; from batsman to bowler, from radio star to television face, from architect to writer. It’s often forgotten that before his Test and 17-ODI career, he starred in the then-VFL, clocking up 85 top-grade games for the Melbourne Football Club between 1967-72.

Today, the 64-year-old is a media tech guru, having set up a company, bhive Group, which specialises in mobile web platforms, streaming media, QR codes and analytics ... We don’t know what any of that stuff is, but Big Max does. We wanted to get his thoughts on cricket’s transformation in recent years, so we stole him away from the Movember campaign trail for a slice of Walker wisdom.

Tangles' wasn't the pretties style, but it worked. Image: Getty Images

Besides the bleedin’ obvious, what inspired you to become a Mo Mentor for Movember?

It seemed like too many boxes got a tick. I’ve had a big moustache all my life, and men’s health is very close to me. Most weeks, someone near and dear is either being diagnosed with prostate cancer or anxiety attacks or depression. It’s something you have to take very seriously. And if, in a small way, I can make a difference, by being part of this critical mass of humanity that’s putting its hand up, albeit for a moustache, then it’s pretty symbolic, isn’t it?

Did you ever think one day that your mo would be behind such a good cause?

I initially grew it, and it did take a while, when I was about 20-odd, and it came in really handy in the West Indies because it was so hot over there. I do smile a lot; the tendency was for my lips to crack. I thought, ‘I’ll put a shade on it.’ It’s part of my DNA. I guess I’d feel that I wasn’t complete if I ever lost it.

There was certainly a lot of facial hair being flashed around on the mini-series Howzat a month or two back ...

For the ’73 tour of the West Indies, which occurred a few years before when Howzat was set, almost everyone in the side had a moustache. There was a tendency to almost link the sideburns up with the mo, but it was an unwritten team rule that there had to be an inch gap, or 25mm, from the bottom of the moustache to the bottom of the sideburns ...

What did you make of the factual accuracy of Howzat ... Did you find yourself nodding your head while reminiscing about the ol’ days?

I thought the first part, in particular, of Howzat was fantastic. As players, we weren’t privy to a lot of the conflicts and confrontations behind closed doors, which were Kerry Packer’s wars, but you have a better appreciation for the anxiety he went through, in getting so many doors slammed in his face. And yet he believed in the idea on a couple of levels. A , he loved cricket. And B, he wanted it to be a marketing magnet for his television station, and the only way that was going to be achieved was if we committed to one another and didn’t pull out. As it was, West Indian Alvin Kallicharan and Jeff Thomson eventually did, but the strength of it was ... he just eyeballed everyone and walked around and asked, “Any reason you won’t give me 55 days of your life for World Series Cricket?” And we all said, “No, Mr Packer.” Only David Hookes was a little apprehensive about it, but once he was across the line, the rest of it is, as they say, history. Great television.