Robert George Dylan Willis MBE, known as Bob Willis, is an English former cricketer who played for Surrey, Warwickshire, Northern Transvaal and England. A right-handed and aggressive fast bowler with a notably long run-up, Willis spearheaded several England bowling attacks between 1971 and 1984, across 90 Test matches in which he took 325 wickets at 25.20 runs per wicket, at the time second only to Dennis Lillee. He is currently England's third leading wicket taker, behind Ian Botham and James Anderson. Willis took 899 first-class wickets overall, although from 1975 onwards he bowled with constant pain, having had surgery on both knees. He nevertheless continued to find success, taking a Test career best eight wickets for 43 runs in the 1981 Ashes series against Australia, one of the all-time best Test bowling performances, in the famous 1981 Ashes series against Australia. He was Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1978. In addition to the Test arena, Willis played 64 One Day International matches for his country, taking 80 wickets, and was a prolific List-A cricketer with 421 wickets overall at 20.18. [More at Wikipedia]

May 30th, 1949 in Sunderland  /  Died:   Dec 4th, 2019