Float Woods

Who is Float Woods?

Joseph 'Float' Woods was a coloured West Indian cricketer best known as a member of the 1900 West Indian tourists to England. He is reckoned to be the first of the coloured West Indian fast bowlers that became a hallmark of West Indian cricket from the 1960s.

Apologising for the lack of a photograph, 'Cricket' in 1900 says "that Woods is a fine specimen of the darkest of the coloured natives of the West Indies, that is to say, he is very dark indeed. He has a good figure, which denotes strength in every movement. He is very solidly built, and is of medium height. When his face is in repose one can plainly see that his disposition is phlegmatic, but when it lights up it is full of intelligence. He speaks English accurately but slowly, and as may be imagined he does not make long speeches. His bowling is too well known to need description, and all that need be said about it is that when bowling fast he comes across from the leg, while his slow ball comes in from the off. Although – or perhaps because – he takes a very short run, he makes a pretty big hole in the ground". He took up the game about the age of 15 and was largely self-taught.