William Edward Alley (3 February 1919 – 26 November 2004) was a cricketer who played 400 first-class matches for New South Wales, Somerset and a Commonwealth XI.

[1] 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.

He was tipped to play Tests by Don Bradman, the Australian cricket captain, but missed out after fracturing his jaw.

These included Sir Conrad Hunte, Garfield Sobers, Pankaj Roy, Hanif Mohammad and Rohan Kanhai.

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.

[5] He so loved the West Country area of England that he chose to remain there after retirement rather than move back to his native Australia.

It was in 1962 that he got his best bowling return of 8 for 65 against a strong Surrey side, that included Ken Barrington, Peter May and Bernie Constable.