An umpire fighting a decision to retire him from the game because of his age has no intention of carrying on for “donkey’s years” but is still able to officiate at the highest level, he told a tribunal yesterday.

Former England Test batsman Peter Willey, 65, one of two umpires fighting an England and Wales Cricket Board decision to drop them from their top list, told the employment hearing he would want to quit the £51,270 job if he was not good enough.

But Mr Willey, a former chairman of umpires who officiated in 25 Test matches during a cricketing career spanning 49 years, said that time had not yet come.

He told the hearing: “I personally wouldn’t want to see umpires carry on until their standards drop just for the sake of it.

“I don’t want to carry on and leave the game with people thinking I wasn’t a very good umpire.

“When I finished my (playing) career at Leicestershire after 25 years I was asked to take the money and leave the club. For the last year and a half I was not a very good cricketer and I don’t want that to happen as an umpire.”

He added: “If I was performing at the highest level and helping other umpires as I was, I thought I would be a benefit to the game of cricket.”

Mr Willey and former colleague George Sharp, 64, who have 45 years of umpiring experience between them, are claiming unfair dismissal and age discrimination against the ECB.

It removed them last year from its first-class umpire list for the 2015 season because they would both be aged 65 when the season starts.

Both men told the tribunal that they did not want to carry on indefinitely but only wanted a two-year extension to their contracts, which could be reviewed after a year.

Mr Willey added: “When you walk onto the field as a 25-year-old or a 65-year-old you can make a mistake. No one is perfect, unless you are a genius you are going to make mistakes.”