‘English Cricket Legend and Dear Friend’ – ECB Leads Tributes to Bob Willis

Tributes poured in on Thursday (December 5) for former England captain Bob Willis, who passed away on Wednesday aged 70 after a short spell of illness.

“The ECB is deeply saddened to say farewell to Bob Willis, a legend of English cricket,” the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement, adding cricket had lost “a dear friend”.

“He will always be remembered for his outstanding cricket career… In later years as a broadcaster Bob was a perceptive and respected voice at the microphone.”



At the time of Willis’s retirement, only Australia’s Dennis Lillee had claimed more victims in test cricket and he remains fourth on the all-time list of England wicket takers after James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Botham.

Willis was last year named in England’s greatest Test XI by the ECB.

Many current and former cricketers took to social media to pay tribute to Willis.

Great cricketer .. even better bloke RIP Bob pic.twitter.com/nq7TnbpsAg

— Nasser Hussain (@nassercricket) December 4, 2019

Warm, funny, generous – will miss Uncle Bob enormously. https://t.co/BC2RJ92HI5

— mark butcher (@markbutcher72) December 4, 2019

Gutted to hear the news of Bob Willis passing. A lovely person with a great humour who was so proud of England cricket. Legend. ???????? pic.twitter.com/g4AQcnRK4n

— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) December 4, 2019

Incredibly sad to hear the news about Bob Willis. He was a true great, generous in sharing his knowledge about the game and a lovely man. RIP Bob x pic.twitter.com/HYJbLlQJRZ

— James Anderson (@jimmy9) December 4, 2019

Willis’s former county teams, Warwickshire and Surrey, led tributes to him while the larger sporting fraternity also remembered his charisma and wit.

“Saddened to hear that Bob Willis has died. One of our greatest fast bowlers,” former England footballer Gary Lineker said.

“Met him on many occasions and he was always great company with a sense of humour that was as sharp as his bowling.”

Graham Gooch, a former England cricket captain and tea mate of Willis, said the sport had lost an iconic figure.

“Bob was a great inspiration to a lot of players, generation after generation,” Gooch said.

Former England fast bowler Darren Gough recalled the Headingley test.

“Such sad news regarding the legend Bob Willis,” Gough said. “An icon of the game I love, growing up as an 11-year-old watching big Bob running down the hill 8/43 at the home of cricket Headingley.”

The fast bowler captained England in 18 Tests and 29 ODIs. He took 325 wickets in 90 Tests from 1971 to 1984.

Willis produced a devastating career-best of eight for 43 in the third Test of the 1981 Ashes at Headingley, which helped England to a famous win over Australia. England went on to win the series 3-1 and Willis finished with 29 wickets at 22.96 in six matches.

In domestic cricket, the Sunderland-born bowler started his career at Surrey, before spending 12 years at Warwickshire, finishing with 899 wickets from 308 first-class matches at an average of 24.99.