Born in Gulgong, New South Wales,[1] Watson made his first-class debut for New South Wales at the Adelaide Oval against South Australia in the 1977-78 Sheffield Shield. He took four wickets, his maiden victim being opposing captain Ashley Woodcock, but did not bat in either innings. He played a further six games in the Shield, capturing another 13 wickets, and made a single List A appearance in the Gillette Cup, taking 1-25 from 8 eight-ball overs.
In 1978, Watson went to England to play county cricket for Worcestershire. He had a reasonably successful season, taking 48 first-class wickets at just under 32 in 21 games, including a career-best 6–45 against Sussex in early August. He also made his highest score with the bat: 38 against Somerset. In one-day cricket he had great success, claiming 19 wickets at a mere 9.52 apiece, including 5-22 (again a career best) against Combined Universities in the Benson & Hedges Cup, a performance which won him the man-of-the-match award.
The defection of many of the senior Australian players to join World Series Cricket in 1977 led to speculation that Watson would be a contender for the Australian team in the 1978–79 Ashes series against England.[2] However, after impressive early performances, Watson had a disappointing season in 1978–79, taking only 13 first-class wickets for New South Wales at average just under 50. He returned for another season with Worcestershire in 1979, but played only nine times in first-class cricket (taking 22 wickets at 37.50) and not at all in the one-day format; from mid-July onwards he had to satisfy himself with Second XI games.
Watson was to play only one more match: a single outing in the 1979-80 Sheffield Shield for Western Australia against Queensland at Perth. The game was drawn, and Watson had a rather poor match: he conceded 135 runs from 30 six-ball overs and had only the second-innings wickets of Ray Phillips and Alec Parker to show for it. Watson never played first-class cricket again but continued to play English league cricket semi-professionally with Billingham, Crewe, Stourbridge and Smethwick.
After his cricket career ended, he worked as a metallurgist and systems analyst.[3]