He is most famous for his performance in the West Indies' 1950 tour of England, which was immortalised in the Victory Calypso.

They had a good batting line-up including the "three W's" (Clyde Walcott, Everton Weekes and Frank Worrell), but they were unusually short of bowlers.

They took two young spinners, 20-year-old Alf Valentine and 21-year-old Sonny Ramadhin, who had only played two first-class matches each.

Valentine in particular was a surprising choice as he had only taken two wickets in those matches at an average of 95, but somehow he had caught the eye of the West Indies captain, John Goddard.

[1] He was the first bowler ever to take eight wickets in his first Test innings, a feat which has only been achieved three times since as of December 2012[update].

England won that match, but in the second Test, at Lord's, the West Indies recorded a 326-run victory, thanks to Clyde Walcott's 168 not out in the second innings, and to the bowling of Ramadhin (11 for 152) and Valentine (7 for 127).