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The portrait is full-length, measuring 42 cm by 32 cm and done in oils, an unusual medium for Handcock. Set at sunset against a backdrop of firs in the outfield of a cricket oval, Wills is shown in his white flannels and the colours of the MCC on his belt and cap. Appearing stately like a "pasha of the East", he holds a cricket bat in the manner of a walking cane. According to biographer Greg de Moore, "he does not look like an athlete, more like a middle-aged lawyer with a liking for a nobbler". Wills' "pendulous paunch" is suggestive of the early stages of physical decline, and his coarsely reddened nose and cheeks allude to years of alcohol abuse. Historian Geoffrey Blainey detects "a slight air of weariness" in his blank expression.
cricket oval cricket oils cricket bat alcohol abuse Geoffrey Blainey nobbler pasha outfield fir