What were Bob Willis’ best Test match bowling figures?

The late Robert George Dylan Willis, popularly known as Bob Willis, was one of the finest fast bowlers of his generation and spearheaded the England bowling attack for over a decade. While many would be in coach potato mode or playing new casinos online USA, Willis was becoming a master at his craft. Instantly recognisable by his long run-up – once described by Wisden as ‘intimidating, but slightly absurd’ – and distinctive bowling action, Willis made his Test debut, at the age of 21, in the fourth Test of the 1970/71 Ashes series against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January, 1971.

Despite being forced to have surgery on both knees in 1975, when still only in his mid-twenties, Willis went on to play a total of 90 Test matches for England, 18 as captain, before retiring from all forms of cricket in 1984. All told, Willis took 325 Test wickets at an average of 25.30. Remarkably, despite taking five wickets in an innings 16 times, Willis never once took ten wickets in a Test match. His best match bowling figures were 9-92 in the second Test against New Zealand at Headingley, Leeds in July, 1983. However, his best innings bowling figures were 8-43 in the third Test against Australia in the 1981 Ashes series, also at Headingley, two years earlier. After England followed on, Willis produced a devastating spell, finally clean bowling Ray Bright to hand the home side a highly unlikely 18-run victory. Competative and talented to the end – while I sit here on www.kingjohnnie.info – Willis has carved out a place for himself in cricketing history.