Hero of Headingley bows out at 70
Fearsome fast bowler whose eight-wicket haul took England to a famous victory against Australia
Bob Willis, the man who bowled England to victory in the 1981 Ashes with his 8-43 at Headingley, died yesterday aged 70. Willis, who took 325 Test wickets, was suffering from prostate cancer
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BOB WILLIS, who has died of thyroid cancer aged 70, was a fast bowler who spent more than a decade at the heart of the England cricket team; in retirement he became one of the game’s foremost broadcasters.
At 6ft 5in, with his unusually long run-in and an unorthodox front-on action, he was a formidable sight thundering in to bowl, and could produce the scariest of bouncers when the occasion called.
He seemed even more intimidating thanks to the Zenlike cocoon of concentration from which he operated; while some bowlers attempt to put the fear of god into batsmen with a battery of furious gestures and follow-ups, Willis was emotionless, and appeared not to mind in the slightest about peppering the hapless hitters with an arsenal of shots to the head and body.
His greatest triumph was the 1981 third Test against Australia at Headingley. It has gone down in sporting history as “the Botham Test”, but that does a grave injustice to Willis, whose faltering form had meant that he had not been guaranteed a place in the team for the series.
Australia had won the first Test, at Trent Bridge, while the second, at Lord’s, was drawn; Willis had sent down 28 no-balls. At Headingley the tourists made a sizeable 401 for 9 declared – Willis conceded 72 runs for no wickets – and when England could make only 174 in reply, and were forced to follow on, the bookmakers had them at 500-1 (odds which the several of the Aussies famously could not resist).
Botham’s heroics came in the form of an unbeaten 149 that helped push England to 356 all out, but the visitors still needed only 130 for victory. Then Willis took control, having been told by the captain Mike Brearley to forget the overstepping problems he had been having and simply concentrate on bowling flat out.
He had Trevor Chappell, Kim Hughes and Graham Yallop caught by close fielders, and Rod Marsh and John Dyson caught at fine leg and behind the wicket respectively trying to hook him. Dennis Lillee was caught from the only ball Willis pitched up.
When Willis took out Ray
Bright’s middle stump Australia were all out for 111, losing by 18 runs. “The sight of Ray Bright’s middle stump going over will probably be the last memory I take to my grave,” he said.
Willis had taken eight wickets for 43, the best Test figures of his career: two of his victims had been out for ducks, while three others made only single figures. It was, said Wisden, “the most staggering bowling of his life when his place again seemed threatened.”
Robert George Willis was born in Sunderland on May 30 1949 – his father worked for the BBC – but he spent his early years in Manchester, and was a lifelong Manchester City supporter.
When he was six the family moved to Stoke d’abernon, near Cobham in Surrey; in 1965 he added “Dylan” to his name by deed poll as a tribute to his musical idol, Bob Dylan. He attended the Royal Grammar School in Guildford, and played cricket for the village team, as well as Cobham Avorians.
He was a keen footballer, though he was not a natural games player,
He added ‘Dylan’ to his name by deed poll as a teenager in honour of his hero, Bob Dylan
and hated rugby. “In the winter when the muscled brethren were playing, I used to play football with the school old boys,” he told ESPN in 2009. “This taught me how to drink cider and vomit it up on Surbiton station, and other lifealtering lessons.”
His facility with a cricket ball was soon spotted, and he played for Surrey Schools and the county’s Colts side, then in 1968 he toured Pakistan with a combined Middlesex and Surrey youth team, then made his debut for Surrey seconds in August that year.
The following year he turned out regularly for the first XI, taking 17 wickets at an average of 19.35 runs. Early in 1971, though he was still relatively unknown, on the advice of his Surrey team-mate John Edrich he was summoned to join the England team in Australia to replace the injured Alan Ward, and acquitted himself well with the ball as well as taking some great catches in the gully as England took the series 2-0.
Back in England, despite wining the County Championship with Surrey, he decided to part company – feeling overlooked rather too often, thanks to their formidable pair of pace bowlers, Geoff Arnold and Robin Jackman – and decamped to Warwickshire. The move rapidly paid off when he won the 1972 County title with the Midlanders, but what would become a recurring back injury began to impede his progress.
Despite this, he personally performed well in Australia in the 1974-75 series – disastrous as it was for England – relying on painkilling injections to keep him going. And, perhaps more importantly, he had a fortuitous meeting with Arthur Jackson, an Australian disciple of the Van Aaken theory of the value of slow long-distance running to build stamina; the two went on to enjoy a close friendship.
Still, Willis bowed to the inevitable, and later that year he had operations on both knees, and returned to international duty in the fourth Test against West Indies at Headingley, making 3-71 and 5-42 and twice dismissing Viv Richards; in the fifth Test he thought he had the mighty Antiguan leg before, but was turned down by the umpire. Richards went on to make 291.
He excelled in India in 1976-77, Wisden recording that: “His 20 wickets in the series stamped Willis as a bowler of genuine pace and indisputable class.” He was brilliant in the 1977 Ashes, which England won 3-0. He took 27 wickets in the series, including 7-78 in the first innings at Lord’s, 5-88 in the second innings at Trent Bridge; and 5-102 at the Oval.
He was Wisden cricketer of the year in 1978, and – having turned down a place in Kerry Packer’s breakaway series – he helped England to reach the inaugural World Cup final in 1979, but a recurrence of his knee injury in the semis ruled him out, and England were beaten by West Indies at Lord’s.
Although he was appointed captain by Warwickshire, the next two seasons were problematic, but he regained full form in time for the Australians’ arrival in 1981.
In 1982 he was appointed captain of his country, and had some success, beating India 1-0 in a three-test series and Pakistan 2-1 (though he did not play in the Lord’s Test, in which the tourists prevailed). In 1983 England beat New Zealand 3-0, Willis taking 20 wickets at 13.65 each, but the following year there were series defeats against the Kiwis and Pakistan. In truth, Willis had no great enthusiasm for the England captaincy; he was a good motivator but no tactical genius.
In 1984 he was hit around the ground by the West Indies tail-ender Michael Holding and retired soon after; he had taken 899 first-class wickets at an average of 24.99.
He became a first-class broadcaster, much valued on Sky for his trenchant opinions, if not for his delivery. “As a player Willis had trouble getting to sleep,” wrote one critic. “As a commentator he struggles to stay awake.”
Besides, Bob Dylan, his other great musical passion was Wagner, following a visit to the opera in Vienna in 1980 to see Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. “I was absolutely stung by it,” he recalled.
Bob Willis, who was appointed MBE, married firstly, Juliet Smail; they divorced and he is survived by his second wife, Lauren, and a daughter of his first marriage.