William Vicente Rodriguez (born 25 June 1934) is a former West Indian international

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played in five

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from

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. Rodriguez was born in

St Clair, Port of Spain Saint Clair is a business and residential district between the Queen's Park Savannah and the Maraval River in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. It is home to most of the city's grandest and largest mansions and also home to the Magnificent Seve ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. After three first-class matches for

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

over five seasons, which included a century against the touring Pakistanis in 1957–58, Rodriguez was selected to tour India and Pakistan with the West Indian team in 1958–59. Apart from figures of 7 for 90 against Indian Universities he had little success with bat or ball, and did not play in any of the Tests. He played in the Second and Fourth Tests against India in 1961–62, scoring 50 and taking 3 for 51 with his leg-spin in the Fourth Test at Port of Spain. His tour of England in 1963 was hampered by a cartilage injury, but after making 93 in over four hours as an opener against Yorkshire he was selected to replace Joey Carew as an opener in the Fifth Test, and made 5 and 28. He played in the Fifth Test against Australia in 1964–65, but without success. From this point in his first-class career his batting fell away while his bowling improved: from 1965–66 to 1969–70 he made 507 runs at 18.10 with only one fifty, but took 69 wickets at 22.21, taking five or more wickets in an innings seven times. For Trinidad against the touring MCC in 1967–68 he took 6 for 51, and he replaced

David Holford David Anthony Jerome Holford (16 April 1940 – 30 May 2022) was a West Indian cricketer who played in 24 Test matches between 1966 and 1977. Career Holford was born on 16 April 1940 at Upper Collymore Rock, Saint Michael, Barbados, and was a ...

for the Fourth Test. He took four wickets, but England won, and he was replaced by Holford. He took 5 for 42 against Windward Islands and 6 for 30 against Barbados in 1968–69, and in 1969–70, his last season, 5 for 12 against Guyana and 5 for 76 against Jamaica. All four performances were at Trinidad's home ground of Port of Spain. In all first-class matches at Port of Spain he took 67 wickets at 22.86. Rodriguez also played football and represented the British Caribbean Football Association touring side in 1959.

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described him as "a very versatile player specialising at Back and Centre Half (Stopper). Balanced, cultured, and an artist in the use of the ball, he is a model of constructive full back play." He managed the West Indies cricket team that toured Australasia in 1979–80. The Australian leg of the tour was a success, but the New Zealand series, which New Zealand won 1–0, was marred by poor on-field behaviour by some West Indian players and poor decisions by the New Zealand umpires. Rodriguez complained publicly about the umpiring, claiming that it was heavily biased towards the New Zealanders. R.T. Brittenden, "The West Indians in New Zealand, 1979–80", ''Wisden'' 1981, p. 957.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Willie 1934 births Living people West Indies Test cricketers Cricketers from Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago cricketers North Trinidad cricketers Men's association football defenders Trinidad and Tobago men's footballers 20th-century Trinidad and Tobago sportsmen