Peter Willey

Infobox Cricketer


nationality = English
country = England
country abbrev = ENG
name = Peter Willey
picture = Cricket_no_pic.pngbatting style = Right-hand bat
bowling style = Right-arm offbreak
balls = true
tests = 26
test runs = 1184
test bat avg = 26.90
test 100s/50s = 2/5
test top score = 102*
test overs = 1091
test wickets = 7
test bowl avg = 65.14
test 5s = -
test 10s = -
test best bowling = 2/73
test catches/stumpings = 3/-
ODIs = 26
ODI runs = 538
ODI bat avg = 23.39
ODI 100s/50s = -/5
ODI top score = 64
ODI overs = 1031
ODI wickets = 13
ODI bowl avg = 50.69
ODI 5s = -
ODI 10s = -
ODI best bowling = 3/33
ODI catches/stumpings = 4/-
date = 1 January
year = 2006
source = http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/22442.html

Peter Willey (born December 6 1949 in Sedgefield, County Durham) is a former English cricketer, who played as a right-handed batsman and right-arm offbreak bowler. After his playing career ended, he became a Test umpire. Although widely respected, he tired of the constant travelling, and decided to leave the international panel to spend more time with his family.

The Open Stance

As his career developed, Willey became a leading exponent of the "open stance" of batting, where the batsman looked squarely at the bowler, rather than side-on, looking over his own shoulder. Advocates of the traditional M.C.C. Coaching manual style derided the stance for its ugliness, and found technical reasons why its exponents were doomed to fail, but Willey persisted with the method, and, by the time he played his shot, was a perfectly orthodox batsman. Thanks to his renowned mental and physical toughness - he was the only man capable of beating Ian Botham in a dressing room arm wrestle - he was constantly picked against the fearsome West Indian attack, only to be dropped again for games against more gentle opposition. He scored two hundreds against the West Indies, although his overall Test batting average ended at under 27.

Willey and humour

According to an urban myth, during a Test match between the West Indies and England when Michael Holding was to bowl to Willey, the commentator at the time, Brian Johnston, described the action as "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willey". While Wisden states that there is no record of Johnston or anyone else actually saying this [http://content.cricinfo.com/england/content/player/15526.html] , Henry Blofeld (who shared the BBC Test Match Special commentary box with Johnston) recalls the incident as having taken place at the Oval in 1976 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/test_match_special/2000209.stm] .

In 1979, Willey caught Dennis Lillee off the bowling of Graham Dilley, resulting in a scorecard of: "Lillee - c. Willey, b. Dilley".

External links

* [http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/22442.html Cricinfo profile]