[3] Watts was a left-handed lower middle order batsman and a right-arm leg-break and googly bowler who played at a time when leg-spin was very much out of favour in English county cricket.
He was the elder brother of Jim Watts, who played alongside him for Northamptonshire as a left-handed middle order batsman and right-arm medium-pace bowler and who was also later a successful captain of the team.
Having played Minor Counties cricket for Bedfordshire since 1955 and for Northamptonshire's second eleven since 1956, Peter Watts made his first-class debut in 1958 in a couple of matches and then played in almost half the county's games in 1959, though his bowling opportunities were limited by Northamptonshire's reliance on the two Australian spin bowlers, George Tribe, who retired at the end of the 1959 season, and Jack Manning.
[5] Watts played in about a half of Northamptonshire's first-class matches in 1959, 1960 and 1961, taking between 30 and 40 wickets in each season and contributing useful lower order runs without ever cementing his place in the side.
The following season, 1965, that was increasingly the pattern: Watts was played largely for his useful batting and his number of overs bowled and his total of wickets both more than halved.