R.I.P. Bob Willis (1949-2019)

Just back from a lecture to find news of the death at the age of 70 of former England fast bowler and captain Bob Willis. I’m sure I’m not the only person who is now reminiscing about that day at Headingley in 1981 when Australia needed only 130 to win and, as Wisden later described it, “Willis ran in to bowl as if the Devil were at his heels”. As Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote:

With his Test career in doubt for the umpteenth time, Willis, of the big heart and vicious bounce, gave it everything he knew. Brushing aside the cost of regular no-balls, he bowled at fierce pace to a shorter length and a straighter line than in the first innings. And suddenly Australia’s foundation crumbled…

R.I.P. Bob Willis (1949-2019)

One Response to “R.I.P. Bob Willis (1949-2019)”

  1. Anton Garrett Says:

    I was at the 5th Test of the series at Old Trafford which England won to win the series 3-1, and remember very well Botham’s ton. Willis was vital in this match too, taking 7 wickets.

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