At St. Mary's College this right-handed player was recognised mainly for his batting, which featured some fine drives. He also appeared at right back for his college and that was his main position in representative football. It was for cricket that he received his first national invitation touring Guyana in 1953 and scoring 38 and 26 in the second match. That gave him a call for the trial match that followed and he scored 1 and 36* for J.B. Stollmeyer's team against R. J. Christiani's, but he did not play against the touring M.C.C. team in 1954. The following year also saw him out of the Trinidad team, which went to Jamaica, but the Combined Islands as well as the Australians recalled him for the visit. His 15 was top score against the former in his team's first innings, while he managed 26 and 7 v. the Aussies. Three years elapsed before his recall by which time his wrist spinners, delivered at near medium pace, and were causing alarms in local cricket. He scored 105 against the Pakistan tourists and that launched his international career.

During the winter of 1958 he toured India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and Pakistan with the West Indies team but returned without making his Test debut. He claimed 7/90 v. Combined Universities at Nagpur and finished the tour with 216 runs (av. 19.63) and 18 wickets (av. 25.33). Afterwards he captained the Trinidad cricket team whenever he was not hampered by a worrisome knee up to 1966 and in 1969 when "Joey" Carew who had succeeded him, was touring Australia and New Zealand.

He played at home against M.C.C. (1960); E.W. Swanton's XI (1961) and the Indians (1962) and eventually got his Test call against the last mentioned after of 77 and 4/67. He played in two Tests, his debut at Sabina Park, Jamaica where he got 3 runs and no wicket; and on his home turf, Queen's Park Oval, where his 3/51 and 50 played a part in the clean sweep against India.

In 1963 he went on tour of Great Britain but twisted his knee early and Barbadian Anthony White was summoned as his replacement. When he recovered, the team was having difficulty in finding an opening partner for Conrad Hunte. Placed in the role for the return Yorkshire game at Sheffield, he scored 93 runs, engaged in a second wicket partnership of 129 with Seymour Nurse and was included in the Fifth Test at The Oval. He made only 5 in the first innings but his 28 in the second and the 78 run start, the best by the tourists in the series, laid the foundation for the assault by Kanhai and with Hunte steadying the innings, the West Indies won after being led on first innings, a rare occurrence in those days. After a visit by Australia in 1965 in which he played in only the Fifth Test and did little of note he played his final international game in 1968, the famous game with the Sobers declaration and he took 3/145 and 1/34. During his Shell Shield career spanning five seasons, 1966-70, he had some impressive figures, mainly on the Queen's Park Oval strip. They included 5/42 v. Windward Islands with a 'hat trick' thrown in and 6/30 v. Barbados in 1969; 5/12 v. Guyana, 1970 while his best abroad was 5/73 v. Jamaica, Sabina Park, 1967. He also captured 6/51 against a strong M.C.C. batting line-up and ended with Shield figures of 51 wickets. (Av. 19.41) from 16 matches.

When his fitness allowed him to play football he frequently represent North Trinidad as well as his island and was selected to tour Great Britain with the West Indies football team in 1959. A consistent tackler, he bowed out of competitive football at the end of the 1959 season when his team Shamrock won three trophies in a week and in their encounters with Malvern he successfully blanked the efforts of Carlton 'General' Franco. He went into cricket administration after retirement, has served on the North Management Committee, was chairman of the national selectors and managed the first West Indies team ever to win a series in Australia, 1979-80, the winning margin being 2-0. Later that team lost 1-0 to New Zealand in a controversial series. One of his sons, Scott, has already represented Trinidad and Tobago at Youth Cricket level and like his dad is a talented footballer. Willie had been a member of the West Indian Tobacco Sports Foundation and is at present the President of the Queen's Park Cricket Club.
(T&T Sports Hall of Fame bio)