Biography

A huge fan of Bob Dylan, the singer, Bob Willis added the name ‘Dylan’ as his middle name, his commentary style probably as sing-a-song as a singer. But that does not take away from this bowler’s amazing will to succeed despite the operations to his knees, and the pain that he played his cricket in; ending with 325 Test wickets at a very good average of just over 25.

Willis began his career in 1971, however, by the time he was 26; he was grossly struggling for fitness. Luckily it was only physical fitness that he was looking for, because, he had abundance of mental toughness, something that helped him come out of this phase and play on a very consistent basis for England. Willis derived his wickets from sheer pace, and on wickets which helped the bowlers a little more than usual, he became doubly dangerous. In what came to be known as the Botham’s Test against Australia, Willis took an 8/43 to stun the living daylights of the Aussie team. He went on to captain the English team 18 times, winning more than he lost. However, his Test career ended when he gave away 163 runs off the 26 overs he bowled against West Indies at Leeds, pulling down a curtain on one of the best pace bowlers from England.

After retiring from the game, he joined the Sky commentary team, as one of the commentators, but his sonorous voice has had its fans and critics alike.