Peter Willey

Peter Willey (born 6 December 1949)[1] is a former English cricketer, who played as a right-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler. In and out of the England team, he interrupted his international career for three years by taking part in the first of the England players' South African rebel tours in 1982. After his playing career ended, he became a Test umpire.[2]

Peter Willey
Personal information
Full namePeter Willey
Born (1949-12-06) 6 December 1949
Sedgefield, County Durham, England
NicknameWill
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight arm off break
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 468)22 July 1976 v West Indies
Last Test29 July 1986 v New Zealand
ODI debut (cap 39)2 June 1977 v Australia
Last ODI31 March 1986 v West Indies
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1966–1983Northamptonshire
1982–1985Eastern Province
1984–1991Leicestershire
Umpiring information
Tests umpired25 (1996–2003)
ODIs umpired34 (1996–2003)
FC umpired283 (1992–2015)
LA umpired298 (1993–2015)
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 26 26 559 458
Runs scored 1,184 538 24,361 11,105
Batting average 26.90 23.39 30.56 28.25
100s/50s 2/5 0/5 44/101 10/67
Top score 102* 64 227 154
Balls bowled 1,091 1,031 58,635 18,520
Wickets 7 13 756 347
Bowling average 65.14 50.69 30.95 32.11
5 wickets in innings 0 0 26 0
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 3 n/a
Best bowling 2/73 3/33 7/37 4/17
Catches/stumpings 3/– 4/– 235/– 124/–
Source: Cricinfo, 17 November 2008

Playing career

As his career developed, Willey became a leading exponent of the "open stance" style of batting, where the batsman looks squarely at the bowler, rather than the traditional "side-on" style, looking past his own shoulder at the bowler.[1]

Known for his intimidating and moody image, and his ability to score runs off fast bowlers, he was constantly picked against the formidable West Indian pace attack, only to be dropped again for games against more gentle opposition.[1][3] He scored two hundreds against the West Indies, although his overall Test batting average ended at under 27.[1]

Umpiring career

Upon his retirement from playing cricket, Willey became an umpire, becoming responsible for international Test Matches in 1996. However, he declined an offer to join the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires in 2001 when it was established, citing family reasons.[4] Willey continued to umpire Test matches in England until 2015, when he turned 65. ECB policy requires all umpires to retire when they reach this age, in order to allow younger umpires to gain employment.[5] Willey and fellow Northamptonshire team-mate and umpire George Sharp challenged this decision at an employment tribunal, alleging age discrimination on the part of the ECB, but lost their case.[6]

Personal life

Willey is married, and has two children, including David Willey who plays for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team, and a grandson.[6][4]

Anecdotes

According to an urban myth, it was during a Test match between the West Indies and England, when Michael Holding was about to bowl to Willey, that the radio commentator Brian Johnston said: "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey". While Wisden stated that there is no record of Johnston or anyone else actually saying this,[7] Johnston's co-commentator, Henry Blofeld, recalled the incident as having taken place at The Oval in 1976.[8] The story is sometimes told the other way around, with Willey bowling to Holding: however, Willey did not bowl to Holding in that particular match.

In 1979, Willey caught Dennis Lillee off the bowling of Graham Dilley, resulting in a scorecard entry of: "Lillee, c. Willey, b. Dilley".[9][10]

See also

References
  1. Bateman, Colin (1993). If The Cap Fits. Tony Williams Publications. p. 187. ISBN 1-869833-21-X.
  2. "International cricketers turned umpires". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
  3. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/feb/03/cricket-england-west-indies-2009-cricket
  4. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/3019922/Willey-refuses-to-join-elite-umpire.html
  5. https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/umpire-peter-willey-challenges-dismissal-grounds-age-discrimination
  6. http://www.espncricinfo.com/county-cricket-2015/content/story/849331.html
  7. Wisden archive
  8. Test Match Special The comment is also attributed to Richie Benaud in a Television commentary in 1980
  9. Cricket Archive – match scorecard. Retrieved on 5 September 2009.
  10. Cricket's Greatest Wonders & Blunders on YouTube
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.