Bob Willis

One of the greatest fast bowlers, Bob Willis, was born on May 30, 1949, at Durham. With a height of 6 ft 6 inches, he was able to extract bounce from any surface that troubled the batters. 

He made his Test debut in 1971 against arch-rivals Australia and returned with a single wicket. Two years later, the seamer made his ODI debut against the West Indies team and had two scalps. 

At the age of 26, he underwent surgeries on both knees but still displayed strength to prolong his career. 

His best-ever performance in a red-ball fixture came against New Zealand in 1983, where he finished with 9/92. However, Willis’ top-rated performance was against Australia in the 1981 Ashes match at Leeds, where the Durham-born finished with an 8/43 figure in one of the innings and helped England level the series. 

In 1982, Willis was awarded the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to the game. 

Under Willis’ captaincy, England secured victories on seven of 18 occasions while registering a win in 16 out of 28 ODIs. 

He featured last for the Three Lions in a Test fixture against West Indies in July 1984. Soon, he was witnessed doing commentary for Sky Sports. 

The right-arm pacer finished with 325 wickets in the longest format and had 80 wickets in the limited-overs format. 

Willis died in December 2019 due to prostate cancer. In 2020, the first edition of the Bob Willis Trophy was played to honor the late cricketer. 

(As of July 2022)