A quick tribute to Bob Willis
Former England captain and fast bowler, Bob Willis passed away yesterday at the age of 70.
It was only a few days ago that I made mention of Willis as the last bowler to Captain England's Test Match side and his death will have come as a shock to many who were still tunning in to watch Willis' "The Verdict" show that followed every days play of this summer's Ashes.
Willis' Test career spanned an impressive 13 years and to this day he remains England's 4th highest wicket-taker of all time. Any fast bowler who plays for that amount of time is going to have suffered a few injuries but Willis managed to recover from double knee surgery at the age of 26 to continue playing for the best part of a decade. That alone speaks volumes of his character and will to win which he maintained even through his many years as a broadcaster. Coupled with that intensity came a tremendous knowledge of the game of cricket and his reviews of England performances could at many times be scathing. However, his achievements within the sport meant that his opinions were held with the utmost of respect and he was very close to many of the England players that donned the 3 lions in the 40 years following his retirement as this clip of Joe Root parodying him following England's 2015 Ashes win shows.
As a player, he lived through the golden era of fast bowling and perhaps in that sense his achievements over his long career are overshadowed by some of the greats that plied their trade in the 1970s and 80s. However, England have produced very few bowlers before or since who were as fast and hostile as Willis could be on his day. He was renowned, in much the same way as his modern contemporary Stuart Broad is, of going through purple patches in games and series where he would become simply unplayable, running through batting line-ups at will. The greatest example of this came in his finest hour when Willis took 8-43 against Australia at Headingley in 1981 to help England to one of the sport's greatest comeback wins.
"Bowled him! It's all over! And it is one of the most fantastic victories ever known in Test cricket history" - The immortal words of Richie Benaud as England become only the 2nd team in the long history of the sport to win after following on
The image of Willis with his head down and arms aloft running from the pitch after bowling Ray Bright will live forever in the annals of cricketing history. Thanks for the memories Bob
he was really a great ambassador of cricket in 1970 - 80. Rest in peace sir !!! You have given a lot to world cricket !!!
Dang, that is pretty impressive. My mother in law just had her other knee replaced about a year after she had the other one done and I can't imagine her going out and playing Cricket. She is a bit older though. It is still impressive he had such a long career after something that could have ended it.
He played in pain throughout most of it and if you watched the video above you'll see he had a funny kind of stride to his run, no doubt a result of his knees. Fast bowling in cricket destroys the body. Knees, backs and ankles are usually the most susceptible to injury