England batsman Peter Wiley recalls his battles with the Windies

Born in Sedgefield in December 1949, Peter was the man the England cricket selectors turned to when they played the West Indies. His intimidating and moody image, plus his ability to handle fast bowling, made him the ideal man to face the blinding pace of Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and Michael Holding. He hit two centuries against the Windies, the first at the Oval in 1980 when he saved the match with his ton in an unbroken last wicket partnership of 117 with Bob Willis, and his second was his highest Test score, 102 not out, and it came in Antigua on the winter tour of 1980.

Such was the domination of the West Indies and Australia in the 1970s and 1980s that Peter had to wait until his 19th Test, the Botham Test at Headingley in 1981, before he appeared on the winning side.

"I could easily have been the hero at Headingley," he said, "because I was on 30 and going well when Dennis Lillee moved third man closer and bowled me a bouncer which I hit straight into third man's hands... Enter Botham."

His interest in cricket began when his family moved to Durham, and when he was five or six years old, he would watch Durham City play while helping with the scoreboard. "I moved into the second team around 1965, and gradually into the first team. Doug Ferguson, a scout for Northants, fixed me up with a trial with them.

"When I arrived I was pleased to be greeted by two lads from the North East, Malcolm Scott and Colin Milburn."

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His Northants debut was in 1966 when he was 16. "I left school at 15 and in my first season at Northants I was paid £7-a-week – £5was for digs and the remaining £2 was spending money.

"In 1971, I had trouble with a cartilage and needed an operation. I was told that I might never play again. Treatment was pretty limited in those days so I talked my problem over with the club secretary who said: 'If you can't get fit we'll just get rid of you.'

"That statement changed my whole attitude to cricket, money and lots of other things.

"Luckily, after six months I was fit again, but I had more operations on my knee and other parts of my body over the years. Around this time I decided to bowl nothing more than off spinners."

Peter Willey on the front cover of a 1980s' cricketing magazine which he has signed

He also changed his stance at the wicket to very open and square-on. He said: "One day Dickie Bird was umpiring and a bowler said to Dickie: 'I can't bowl at him standing like that'.

"Dickie said: 'Thall have te, lad, there's no law against it.'"

On July 22, 1976, Peter made his England debut against the West Indies at Headingley in the fourth Test. His debut in a one day international came on June 2, 1977, against Australia. What amused him about playing for England was that "you only found out if you had been selected for England by listening to the 12 o'clock news on the radio the Sunday preceding the game".

His ability against raw pace meant that of the 26 Tests he played, 15 were against the Windies, while all but two of the others were against Australia. Thirteen of his 26 international one day games were also against the Caribbean giants. "Malcolm Marshall dismissed me 26 times while I only got him twice," he said.

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In 1982, he took part in the rebel tour to South Africa and was subsequently banned by the Test and County Cricket Board for three years.

He recalled Ian Botham bullying Geoff Boycott while Boycott did not like Mike Brearley because Boycott thought he should have been the captain of England in front of Brearley. He also recalled Botham being a nuisance and messing around in the showers with one or two players,

"I warned him not to do the same with me, and we became good friends after that. I once shared a room with Boycott for two weeks, and found him a decent bloke and easy to get on with."

His final Test for England was in July 1986 against New Zealand at Lords and his final ODI was March 31, 1986, against the West Indies. He joined Leicestershire for the final few years of his playing career, and helped them win the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1985 after helping Northants win the Gillette Cup in 1976. On both occasions he took the man of the match award.

He took up umpiring, starting with county second team games and university matches before going into the County Championship and taking Test matches. He was once umpiring a Test in India when India's star Sachin Tendulkar was at the crease.

"Sachin was telling me how he had not slept the night before because of what the crowd expected him to achieve, he seemed to be under immense pressure."

Peter Willey and George Sharp arrive for their tribunal in 2015 when they were told to retire as umpires as they had reached 65

In 2015, Peter reached 65 and had to retire from umpiring, not because of a medical problem, or his eyesight, but because of his age. He and fellow umpire George Sharp took their case for further employment as umpires to an employment tribunal but they lost and retired.

On today's game, he said: "The forward defensive shot is disappearing, as players practice all those trick shots for the limited over game."

• Thanks to Michael Burke for his help.

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