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Tonito
Possess The Will to Succeed |
Keith Arthurton, Elquemedo's nephew Stuart Williams and Carl Tuckett were the other players from the tiny island to play international cricket. And, if his Busta Cup form is anything to go by, Tonito can be a topic of discussion in the selectorial office for the forthcoming visit by South Africa. To date, Tonito has compiled 328 runs at an average of 54.67, with three half-centuries. He has impressed many with his technique, temperament and his knack for big scoring.
"The season has been pretty good so far, okay for now, but with a few lapses here and there," he acknowledges.
Born in Government Road, Nevis, on February 6 1983, the younger Willett received his first taste of cricket at the Charlestown Primary School.
"I started off as an opener for Nevis in the Leeward Islands Under-15 tournament in 1997," he said, during the present Busta Cup match between the West Indies 'B' and Guyana. But I wanted to succeed as an all-rounder, so I decided to become a middle-order batsman," he added, minutes after he dismissed Guyanese captain Carl Hooper for 98, caught and bowled, with his medium-pace.
But was Tonito pushed to follow in his father's footsteps? "Not really," he admitted. "I was influenced by the love of the game, even though my dad and Stuart Williams had direct influences on me, since I was at a tender age."
"However, I look at my dad as a mentor, and I want to carry off where he left off in cricket." In 1998, Willett, now a student at Charlestown Secondary, played for Nevis at the annual Leeward Islands tournament. That year, he played for the Leewards at the regional Carib Cement Under-15 competition in St.Lucia.
A year later, in Barbados, he made an impressive entry in the Nortel Under-19 event, tallying 204 runs at an average of 25.5 for the cellar-placed Leewards.
The second of five children, (a brother and three sisters), he admits that there is no competition with his 12-year-old sibling, who plays for Nevis at the Under-13 and Under-15 levels.
Listing his father, his cousin, Hooper, Sir Viv Richards and Brian Lara as his favourite players, he has set his mind to play international cricket before the year is completed.
Tonito, currently pursuing architecture at the Clarence Bryant College, states that he spends a lot of his time intermingling with his friends. For good measure, the Jamaicans George and Ron Headley as well as OC and Alfred Scott are the only father-son combination to play Test matches for the West Indies. If his run tally improves, then the Willett duo can earn another spot in the records of West Indies cricket.