"He was the best quick bowler I played with and I think he would get into any England team," says Beefy of Bob
Wednesday 15 April 2020 15:56, UK
The cricketing world lost a legend last December when Bob Willis passed away at the age of 70.
The fast bowler turned analyst won many fans during his distinguished England career - in which he bagged 405 international wickets - and then even more through his sharp commentary and acerbic punditry.
On the Sky Cricket Podcast, Ian Ward welcomed four of Bob's greatest pals - Sir Ian Botham, David Lloyd, Paul Allott and Mike Selvey - to pay tribute to a man who is much missed and toast him with one of his favourite wines.
Listen to the podcast in the player above - or by downloading through Apple Podcasts or Spotify - and then carry on reading for a snapshot of what was said, as we remembered one of the funniest, brightest and nicest people you could ever wish to meet…
IAN BOTHAM on Bob's 8-43 at Headingley in 1981...
"He had no-ball problems ahead of the game and the selectors were thinking 'can we play him?' Mike Brearley rang Bob up and Bob said 'I'm good, I want to play'. He then produced one of the most remarkable pieces of bowling I have ever seen. Genuine pace. Genuine aggression. There was no emotion. He didn't even talk to us! People say it was the Botham Test but Bob was Man of the Match as much as anybody. People forgot how good and how quick he was. He had great stamina and could sustain spells at pace - he gave everything in every delivery. He was the best quick bowler I played with and I think he would get into any England team."
I used to love his batting. His claim to fame is that he walked out to bat at Adelaide Oval with his Run Reaper bat and hit Alan Hurst for six over backward gully. He got 20-odd, then walked in, sat down and said, ‘that’s the end of his career!'
IAN BOTHAM on his friendship with Bob…
"He became a mentor. If I had a bad day, batted poorly, bowled poorly he would get stuck into me but he was quick with praise, too. Even through off-field incidents, he would sit me down and chat. He was a very special person who took me under his wing and that stayed the same all the way through. When I joined Sky, Bobby was there and guided me through different parts of commentary. He was an exceptional person. I miss the impromptu get-togethers, lunches, off-the-cuff stuff. You'd get a phone call and everyone would drop everything and go. One of Bob's great qualities was that he enjoyed people's company, so I miss the comradeship."
PAUL ALLOTT on Bob's vision for cricket...
"He was a great thinker about the game and I think he would have been a great administrator as well. I remember on a tour of India and Sri Lanka in 1981 when he started telling me about his vision for the future of the game - compartmentalised tournaments so there would be no conflict between first-class and one-day cricket, standalone Test matches so players and spectators would be able to focus on them. He championed that throughout the rest of his life and cricket didn't quite get to the position he wanted it to, although elements of what he wanted were put forward."
I remember in a Test in India 1977 when there was a bowler called Yajurvindra Singh and with England nine down in the second innings he had equalled the world record for the number of catches in a match - some of which came off the bat. Bob was last man in and said, 'I'm not going to give him a world record'. So he just walked straight past a delivery and got stumped! That was Bob.
BUMBLE on Bob's broadcasting career…
"When he really got into his own on The Verdict, the players would wither, he started everything with the same two words, 'Well, Charles… It was an act and he was brilliant at it. He was a massive England supporter. He didn't mind giving the players a serve but we would say to the players, 'meet the guy once and you will have a mate for life'. That's what happened with lads like Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson. Also, technically, he was as good a commentator as you could ever work with. At calling the moment, he was absolutely bang on."
IAN WARD on one of Bob's funnies…
"I remember being in the studio with Bob when England had just been humiliated by the West Indies in Jamaica. I could hear the count ticking down in my ear to come off air, so I wanted to give Bob the final world. He said, 'Well, I'm not going to beat around the bush, Ian, you wouldn't expect me to. It's up to three for the dumb-slog millionaire [meaning Kevin Pietersen] and back to the dartboard at the Ashington Working Men's Club for Steve Harmison!' I see Beefy, Mikey Holding and Mike Atherton on the monitor on the wall behind me laughing in the Caribbean and I have got 20 seconds to come off air! Bob's sense of humour was so dry."
His knees looked like Spaghetti Junction – how he played again was through sheer determination because most normal people would have thought ‘that’s enough'.
SIR IAN BOTHAM on an eventful boating trip…
"One I always remember is when we had this 80-foot yacht out in the Caribbean and decided to take it out in Barbados around the island. All the Sky crew piled onto the yacht but Bob, who didn't particularly like sand and sea, was sat in one position. He said the shade was perfect and that he wasn't going to move. As we went round the island, the sun moved as well and when we got to the end it was like someone had put a paint line down him and sprayed one side red. We could see him changing colour!"
PAUL ALLOTT on Bob's final days…
"I was there at the end with him, I held his hand and he slipped away. It was a very peaceful passing actually. Hugely emotional obviously and a really tough time. He was hugely stoical. He bore this horrible disease with great fortitude and the way he did it was testament to the way he lived his life and the effort he put in, not just into his bowling but everything else he did in life. He was uncomplaining in everything he did. We knew he was very poorly but he never talked about his illness. All he wanted to talk about were the things he enjoyed - football, cricket, wine. I think he will be staggered at the public response to his death. I don't think he would have realised how many people he touched. He was a fantastic bloke."
