[3][4] A left-arm "trundler" who could move the ball both ways and "cleverly" varied the pace of his bowling, Woods was considered a schoolboy cricketer of "outstanding promise".
[4] Initial working as a draper, he completed his compulsory military training before being asked to play in the New Zealand colts trial match in December 1955.
Once again he took six wickets in the first innings of his representative debut against Canterbury,[3][5] a performance that Christchurch paper The Press labelled "sensational".
[3][5] Bowling off of a short run up, Woods "sort of looped the ball over slowly" and got wickets "with guile, flight and deception".
In later life he and his wife lived on the Otago coast at Kaka Point where they owned a store, camping ground and post office and helped care for the Māori poet Hone Tuwhare.