List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Bob Willis

Willis took 16 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.

Bob Willis was a right-arm fast bowler, who represented the England cricket team in 90 Tests between 1971 and 1984.[1][2] In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five-for" or "fifer")[3] refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement,[4] and as of October 2024^[update], only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers.[2] In Test cricket, Willis took 325 wickets, including 16 five-wicket hauls.[1][5] The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack named him one of their cricketers of the year in 1978, and termed him "one of the world's foremost fast bowlers."[6]

Willis made his Test debut during the fourth Test of the 1970–71 Ashes series, against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.[7] His first Test five-wicket haul came in the third Test of the 1974–75 Ashes series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.[8] Willis' career-best figures for an innings were 8 wickets for 43 runs—seventh among Top 100 Bowling performances of all time by Wisden[9]—at Headingley, during the 1981 Ashes series.[10] He never took ten wickets in a match; his best performance for a match was 9 wickets for 92 runs against New Zealand in 1983 at Headingley.[11][12] He was most successful against Australia, taking seven five-wicket hauls.[13]

Willis took three five-wicket hauls as captain. It would be a further 38 years until an English captain again took five wickets in a Test, which Joe Root did in February 2021,[14] and 39 years until a captain took five wickets in an Ashes Test, which Pat Cummins did in December 2021.[15]

Willis made his One Day International (ODI) debut against the West Indies at Headingley, during the 1973 Prudential Trophy.[16] He never took a five-wicket haul in ODIs; his career-best figures for an innings were 4 wickets for 11 runs against Canada during the 1979 Cricket World Cup, a match England won by 8 wickets at Old Trafford.[17][18] As of 2021^[update], Willis is thirty-ninth overall among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers.[n 1]

Key

Willis took three of his five-wicket hauls at Headingley.[19]

Key for the Test five-wicket hauls table

Symbol	Meaning
Date	Date the match was held, or starting date of the match for Test matches
Inn	The innings of the match in which the five-wicket haul was taken
Overs	Number of overs bowled in that innings
Runs	Runs conceded
Wkts	Number of wickets taken
Econ	Bowling economy rate (average runs per over)
Batsmen	The batsmen whose wickets were taken in the five-wicket haul
Result	The result for the England team in that match
†	Captained the England cricket team
Drawn	The match was drawn

Test five-wicket hauls

Five-wicket hauls in Test cricket by Bob Willis

No.	Date	Ground	Against	Inn	Overs	Runs	Wkts	Econ	Batsmen	Result
1	26 December 1974	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	Australia	2	21.7[n 2]	61	5	2.09	Wally Edwards Greg Chappell Ian Chappell Max Walker Jeff Thomson	Drawn[8]
2	22 July 1976	Headingley, Leeds	West Indies	3	15.3	42	5	2.70	Viv Richards Deryck Murray Vanburn Holder Michael Holding Andy Roberts	Lost[22]
3	1 January 1977	Eden Gardens, Calcutta[n 3]	India	1	20.0	27	5	1.35	Sunil Gavaskar Brijesh Patel Eknath Solkar Erapalli Prasanna B. S. Chandrasekhar	Won[23]
4	28 January 1977	Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium, Bangalore[n 4]	India	1	17.0	53	6	3.11	Brijesh Patel Yajurvindra Singh Syed Kirmani Karsan Ghavri E. A. S. Prasanna B. S. Chandrasekhar	Lost[24]
5	16 June 1977	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	Australia	2	30.1	78	7	2.58	Greg Chappell Craig Serjeant Doug Walters Rod Marsh Kerry O'Keeffe Max Walker Jeff Thomson	Drawn[25]
6	28 July 1977	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	Australia	3	26.0	88	5	3.38	Rick McCosker Ian Davis Rod Marsh Max Walker Jeff Thomson	Won[26]
7	25 August 1977	Kennington Oval, London	Australia	2	29.3	102	5	3.45	Craig Serjeant Rick McCosker Doug Walters Ray Bright Jeff Thomson	Drawn[27]
8	10 February 1978	Basin Reserve, Wellington	New Zealand	3	15.0[n 2]	32	5	1.60	John Wright Geoff Howarth Bev Congdon John Parker Richard Hadlee	Lost[20]
9	15 June 1978	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	Pakistan	2	13.0	47	5	3.61	Mudassar Nazar Sadiq Mohammad Javed Miandad Wasim Bari Iqbal Qasim	Won[28]
10	27 July 1978	Kennington Oval, London	New Zealand	1	20.2	42	5	2.06	John Wright Mark Burgess Richard Hadlee Lance Cairns Brendon Bracewell	Won[29]
11	15 December 1978	WACA Ground, Perth	Australia	2	18.5[n 2]	44	5	1.77	Kim Hughes Graham Yallop Gary Cosier Rodney Hogg Alan Hurst	Won[21]
12	5 June 1980	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	West Indies	4	26.0	65	5	2.50	Gordon Greenidge Alvin Kallicharran Clive Lloyd Deryck Murray Malcolm Marshall	Lost[30]
13	16 July 1981	Headingley, Leeds	Australia	4	15.1	43	8	2.83	John Dyson Trevor Chappell Kim Hughes Graham Yallop Rod Marsh Ray Bright Geoff Lawson Dennis Lillee	Won[10]
14	10 June 1982†	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	India	3	28.0	101	6	3.60	Sunil Gavaskar Ghulam Parkar Dilip Vengsarkar Yashpal Sharma Ashok Malhotra Syed Kirmani	Won[31]
15	26 November 1982†	Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane	Australia	2	29.4	66	5	2.22	Kepler Wessels Allan Border Bruce Yardley Geoff Lawson Carl Rackemann	Lost[32]
16	28 July 1983†	Headingley, Leeds	New Zealand	4	14.0	35	5	2.50	John Wright Bruce Edgar Geoff Howarth Martin Crowe Jeff Crowe	Lost[12]

Notes

1. Willis shares the position with Terry Alderman, B. S. Chandrasekhar, Shoaib Akhtar, Graham McKenzie, Richie Benaud and Chaminda Vaas.[2]
2. Eight-ball overs were bowled in this match.[8][20][21]
3. Calcutta has since been renamed Kolkata.
4. Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium has since been renamed the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

References

1. "Bob Willis". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
2. "Records / Combined Test, ODI and T20I records / Bowling records / Most five-wickets-in-an-innings in a career". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
3. "Swinging it for the Auld Enemy – An interview with Ryan Sidebottom". The Scotsman. 17 August 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2013. ... I'd rather take fifers (five wickets) for England ...
4. Pervez, M. A. (2001). A Dictionary of Cricket. Orient Blackswan. p. 31. ISBN 978-81-7370-184-9. Retrieved 5 February 2013.
5. "Records / Test matches / Bowling records / Most five-wickets-in-an-innings in a career". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
6. "Wisden:Cricketer of the year 1978 – Bob Willis". Wisden. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
7. "England tour of Australia, 1970/71: The Ashes – 4th Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
8. "England tour of Australia, 1974/75: The Ashes – 4th Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
9. "Top 100 Bowlers of all time". Rediff.com. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
10. "Australia tour of England, 1981 – 3rd Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
11. "Statistics / Statsguru / Bob Willis / Test matches". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
12. "New Zealand tour of England, 1983: Test series – 2nd Test, Group A". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
13. "Statistics / Statsguru / Bob Willis / Test matches". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
14. "Joe Root Becomes First England Captain in 38 Years To Pick a Five-Wicket Haul in Tests, Achieves Feat During IND vs ENG Pink-Ball Match". Yahoo! Sports. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
15. "Pat Cummins becomes first captain to get five-wicket haul in Ashes after Bob Willis in 1982". Times of India. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
16. "West Indies tour of England, 1973: Prudential Trophy – 1st ODI". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
17. "Statistics / Statsguru / Bob Willis / One-Day Internationals". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
18. "Prudential World Cup, 1979 – 8th match, Group A". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
19. "Records / Headingley, Leeds / Test matches / Most five-wickets-in-an-innings". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
20. "England tour of New Zealand, 1977/78 – 1st Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
21. "England tour of Australia, 1978/79 – 2nd Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
22. "West Indies tour of England, 1976 – 4th Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
23. "England tour of India, 1976/77 – 2nd Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
24. "England tour of India, 1976/77 – 4th Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
25. "Australia tour of England, 1977 – 1st Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
26. "Australia tour of England, 1977 – 3rd Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
27. "Australia tour of England, 1977 – 5th Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
28. "Pakistan tour of England, 1978 – 2nd Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
29. "New Zealand tour of England and Netherlands, 1978 – 1st Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
30. "West Indies tour of England, 1980 – 1st Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
31. "India tour of England, 1982 – 1st Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
32. "England tour of Australia, 1982/83 – 2nd Test". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 September 2013.

External links

• "Statistics / Statsguru / Bob Willis / Test matches". ESPNcricinfo. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013.