Willie Watson was one of New Zealand's "dibbly, dobbly, wibbly and wobbly" quartet of medium-pacers who turned bowling wicket to wicket with slight movement into an art form - Rod Latham, Gavin Larsen and Chris Harris being the other three. It was clear from the time of Watson's international debut, when his 9-2-15-3 helped New Zealand to a comprehensive win over Sri Lanka in a 1986 ODI, that we had a miser among us. Watson would go for more than six an over in only three of his 61 ODIs. In 15 Tests, he finished on the winning side only thrice; his 6 for 78 in Lahore in 1990-91 came in a nine-wicket defeat. The 1992 World Cup was as good a time as any for Watson. Far short of being express, he opened the bowling, using his canny legbreaks alongside his slow seamers, with Dipak Patel, before coming back at the end of the innings. Between them the four bowled 250.1 overs for 1041 runs in the World Cup, and Watson went for only 3.81 per in his 79 overs.
