[3] He was 19 when he made his first-class debut in a home County Championship match against Lancashire at the Wagon Works Ground in June 1923.
[2] Though he bowled only occasionally, Neale was considered a useful option because he apparently had a knack for breaking stubborn partnerships after the regular bowlers had failed to do so.
Playing against Somerset at Nevil Road in 1937, he took six wickets for a mere nine runs, his career best bowling analysis.
Middlesex won a close-fought match by 68 runs after Gloucestershire's batting surprisingly collapsed in the fourth innings.
[7] The 1948 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack says of Neale's batting in 1947 that he was a "patient" batsman who, like his colleague Jack Crapp, "proved a mainstay in run-getting".
[13] He and his wife, Phyllis Mary Neale (1910–1983), lived in the Gloucestershire village of Breadstone, near Stroud, until Billy's death in 1955.
[14] His obituary in the 1956 edition of Wisden states that he died after a long illness in hospital at Gloucester on 26 October 1955, aged 51.
[2] The 1956 Playfair includes him in its obituary section, saying that he was a "very useful middle-order batsman", though "rarely in the headlines"; it confirms his career runs and centuries.
[13] Billy and Phyllis Neale are buried together at the Berkeley Cemetery on Gilbert Hill in Stroud.