William Edward Alley (3 February 1919 – 26 November 2004) was a
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
er who played 400
first-class matches for
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
,
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
and a
Commonwealth XI.
Whilst in Australia, Alley was also a middleweight boxer, and was undefeated in 28 contests when he was forced to give it up after being hit on the head in the nets at cricket practice. His cricket career was interrupted and delayed both by his boxing career, and by World War Two, which saw first class cricket matches cancelled for 6 years.
He was tipped to play Tests by
Don Bradman
Sir Donald George Bradman, (27 August 1908 – 25 February 2001), nicknamed "The Don", was an Australian international cricketer, widely acknowledged as the greatest batsman of all time. Bradman's career Test batting average of 99.94 has bee ...
, the Australian cricket captain, but missed out after fracturing a jaw. This prompted him to leave
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and come to
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
, England,
playing
league cricket there for
Colne Cricket Club
Colne Cricket Club is a cricket club who play in the Lancashire League, which plays its home games at The Horsfield in Colne. For the 2022 season, their club captain is Tom Bradshaw, their 2nd XI captain is Martin Kegg, their 3rd XI captain is ...
for five years from 1948, becoming the only player to score 1000 runs in each of five consecutive seasons in the league's history.
This 5-year spell at Colne fulfilled the requirement at that time that any foreign player coming to England had to reside in England for 5 years before he could play first-class cricket in England.
From Colne he moved to play for Blackpool CC in the newly established Northern League where he scored 19 centuries.
[
As the professional for Blackpool, he was able to earn more money than any first class cricketer anywhere in the world. Each League side in Lancashire was permitted to pay only one professional. During the 1950s and early 1960s, in the summer at any one time there were more than 150,000 holidaymakers in Blackpool, and there were very large crowds indeed paying at the turnstiles of Blackpool Cricket Club. Every season, moreover, the Blackpool pro was given a benefit match. Illustrating the value of the Blackpool job, Alley was succeeded as Blackpool's pro by many of the all-time greats of the game. These included Sir ]Conrad Hunte
Sir Conrad Cleophas Hunte, KA (9 May 1932 – 3 December 1999) was a Barbadian cricketer. Hunte played 44 Test matches as an opening batsman for the West Indies.
Early life and career
Hunte was born in rural St Andrew Parish in the ...
, Garfield Sobers
Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, (born 28 July 1936), also known as Sir Gary or Sir Garry Sobers, is a former cricketer who played for the West Indies between 1954 and 1974. A highly skilled bowler, an aggressive batsman and an excellent fielder, ...
, Pankaj Roy
Pankaj Roy (; 31 May 1928 – 4 February 2001) was an Indian cricketer and former national cricket team captain. He was right-handed opening batsman, he is best known for establishing the world record opening partnership of 413 runs, together ...
, Hanif Mohammad
Hanif Mohammad PP ( ur, , 21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer.
He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98 scoring twelve ...
and Rohan Kanhai
Rohan Babulal Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Tamil Indo-Guyanese origin , who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featur ...
. Playing only 2 days a week would also have given the pro the opportunity to take a second job if he had so wanted, including playing for a Minor County or a first class County Second Eleven.
Alley was eventually tempted into joining Somerset CCC in 1957, when he was 38, since they offered a 3-year contract, while Blackpool could not commit to one of such length. Alley played 350 first-class games for Somerset, the last one being when he was 49.
After stopping playing, he umpired first-class games for 16 years[ and also stood in 10 ]Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to:
* Test cricket
* Test match (indoor cricket)
* Test match (rugby union)
* Test match (rugby league)
* Test match (association football)
...
es and 9 One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
s as umpire
An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection.
The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...
. He so loved the West Country
The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...
area of England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
that he chose to remain there after retirement rather than move back to his native Australia.
Alley was married to Betty, whom he met when playing cricket in the north of England, and they had two sons. His first wife died in childbirth; they had a son, who died in an Army accident.[
]
Record in first-class cricket
Alley was an all-rounder
An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...
. He scored 19,612 runs at an average of 31.88 batting left-handed. He took 768 wickets at 22.68 runs per wicket, with a best of 8 for 65,[ bowling right arm medium fast. He also took 267 catches in the field. His best season was his testimonial season in 1961 when, at the age of forty-two, he scored over 3,000 runs for Somerset and in one match achieved his highest score of 221 not out, out of Somerset's total of 311 all out. During the same season he hit in excess of 300 runs in a match against the visiting Australians (184 not out in the first innings and 134 not out in the second innings).
His was the last instance of a batsman scoring 3,000 runs in an English season.] Only eight batsmen in history have achieved the feat of 3000 runs in an English season. At the end of that season, he topped the first-class averages, ahead of all the England and Australian Test cricketers, who in those days all played among the Counties six days a week throughout the season except when they were playing Test cricket.
Alley's 10 centuries for Somerset in 1961 remained a county record for thirty years. In 1962 he received the honour of being one of ''Wisden's'' five cricketers of the year, based on his performances in 1961 and during his career. In the 1962 season, he made over 1,900 runs and took 112 wickets. It was in 1962 that he got his best bowling return of 8 for 65 against a strong Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
side, that included Ken Barrington
Kenneth Frank Barrington (24 November 193014 March 1981), was an English international cricketer who played for the England cricket team and Surrey County Cricket Club in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a right-handed batsman and occasional leg-sp ...
, Peter May Peter May may refer to:
*Peter W. May, American businessman
*Peter May (cricketer) (1929–1994), English Test cricketer
*Peter May (writer)
Peter May (born 20 December 1951) is a Scottish television screenwriter, novelist, and crime writer. H ...
and Bernie Constable.
Many people expressed doubts about his exact age, and on being presented by Denis Compton with the Cricketer of the Year Award for 1962, Compton said "it is stated that you are only 43 years old. Well if you are only 43, then I am still a baby in a nappy." Compton had retired 5 years earlier, in 1957, the same year Alley had started his English first-class career.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alley, Bill
Australian cricketers
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Somerset cricketers
New South Wales cricketers
Commonwealth XI cricketers
International Cavaliers cricketers
English Test cricket umpires
English One Day International cricket umpires
Australian expatriate sportspeople in England
1919 births
2004 deaths
Cricketers from Sydney
Players cricketers
A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers
North v South cricketers