List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Bob Willis

Willis took 16 five-wicket hauls in Test cricket.

Bob Willis, a right-arm fast bowler, 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 2016, only 44 bowlers have taken at least 15 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 made his One Day International (ODI) debut against the West Indies at Headingley, during the 1973 Prudential Trophy.^[14] 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.^[15][16] As of 2013, Willis is thirty-first overall among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers.^{[n 1]}

Key

Willis took three of his five-wicket hauls at Headingley Stadium.^[17]

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	000000001974-12-26-000026 December 1974	Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne	Australia	7000200000000000000♠2	7001217000000000000♠21.7[n 2]	7001610000000000000♠61	0504 !5	7000209009999900000♠2.09	Wally Edwards Greg Chappell Ian Chappell Max Walker Jeff Thomson	Drawn[8]
2	000000001976-07-22-000022 July 1976	Headingley Stadium, Leeds	West Indies	7000300000000000000♠3	7001153000000000000♠15.3	7001420000000000000♠42	0507 !5	7000270000000000000♠2.70	Viv Richards Deryck Murray Vanburn Holder Michael Holding Andy Roberts	Lost[20]
3	000000001977-01-01-00001 January 1977	Eden Gardens, Calcutta[n 3]	India	7000100000000000000♠1	7001200000000000000♠20.0	7001270000000000000♠27	0511 !5	7000135000000000000♠1.35	Sunil Gavaskar Brijesh Patel Eknath Solkar Erapalli Prasanna B. S. Chandrasekhar	Won[21]
4	000000001977-01-28-000028 January 1977	Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium, Bangalore[n 4]	India	7000100000000000000♠1	7001170000000000000♠17.0	7001530000000000000♠53	0601 !6	7000311000000000000♠3.11	Brijesh Patel Yajurvindra Singh Syed Kirmani Karsan Ghavri Erapalli Prasanna B. S. Chandrasekhar	Lost[22]
5	000000001977-06-16-000016 June 1977	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	Australia	7000200000000000000♠2	7001301000000000000♠30.1	7001780000000000000♠78	0700 !7	7000258000000000000♠2.58	Greg Chappell Craig Serjeant Doug Walters Rod Marsh Kerry O'Keeffe Max Walker Jeff Thomson	Drawn[23]
6	000000001977-07-28-000028 July 1977	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	Australia	7000300000000000000♠3	7001260000000000000♠26.0	7001880000000000000♠88	0501 !5	7000338000000000000♠3.38	Rick McCosker Ian Davis Rod Marsh Max Walker Jeff Thomson	Won[24]
7	000000001977-08-25-000025 August 1977	Kennington Oval, London	Australia	7000200000000000000♠2	7001293000000000000♠29.3	7002102000000000000♠102	0500 !5	7000345000000000000♠3.45	Craig Serjeant Rick McCosker Doug Walters Ray Bright Jeff Thomson	Drawn[25]
8	000000001978-02-10-000010 February 1978	Basin Reserve, Wellington	New Zealand	7000300000000000000♠3	7001150000000000000♠15.0[n 2]	7001320000000000000♠32	0510 !5	7000160000000000000♠1.60	John Wright Geoff Howarth Bev Congdon John Parker Richard Hadlee	Lost[18]
9	000000001978-06-15-000015 June 1978	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	Pakistan	7000200000000000000♠2	7001130000000000000♠13.0	7001470000000000000♠47	0505 !5	7000361000000000000♠3.61	Mudassar Nazar Sadiq Mohammad Javed Miandad Wasim Bari Iqbal Qasim	Won[26]
10	000000001978-07-27-000027 July 1978	Kennington Oval, London	New Zealand	7000100000000000000♠1	7001202000000000000♠20.2	7001420000000000000♠42	0508 !5	7000206000000000000♠2.06	John Wright Mark Burgess Richard Hadlee Lance Cairns Brendon Bracewell	Won[27]
11	000000001978-12-15-000015 December 1978	WACA Ground, Perth	Australia	7000200000000000000♠2	7001185000000000000♠18.5[n 2]	7001440000000000000♠44	0506 !5	7000177000000000000♠1.77	Kim Hughes Graham Yallop Gary Cosier Rodney Hogg Alan Hurst	Won[19]
12	000000001980-06-05-00005 June 1980	Trent Bridge, Nottingham	West Indies	7000400000000000000♠4	7001260000000000000♠26.0	7001650000000000000♠65	0503 !5	7000250000000000000♠2.50	Gordon Greenidge Alvin Kallicharran Clive Lloyd Deryck Murray Malcolm Marshall	Lost[28]
13	000000001981-07-16-000016 July 1981	Headingley Stadium, Leeds	Australia	7000400000000000000♠4	7001151000000000000♠15.1	7001430000000000000♠43	0800 !8	7000283000000000000♠2.83	John Dyson Trevor Chappell Kim Hughes Graham Yallop Rod Marsh Ray Bright Geoff Lawson Dennis Lillee	Won[10]
14	000000001982-06-10-000010 June 1982	Lord's Cricket Ground, London	India	7000300000000000000♠3	7001280000000000000♠28.0	7002101000000000000♠101	0600 !6	7000360000000000000♠3.60	Sunil Gavaskar Ghulam Parkar Dilip Vengsarkar Yashpal Sharma Ashok Malhotra Syed Kirmani	Won[29]
15	000000001982-11-26-000026 November 1982	Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane	Australia	7000200000000000000♠2	7001294000000000000♠29.4	7001660000000000000♠66	0502 !5	7000222000000000000♠2.22	Kepler Wessels Allan Border Bruce Yardley Geoff Lawson Carl Rackemann	Lost[30]
16	000000001983-07-28-000028 July 1983	Headingley Stadium, Leeds	New Zealand	7000400000000000000♠4	7001140000000000000♠14.0	7001350000000000000♠35	0509 !5	7000250000000000000♠2.50	John Wright Bruce Edgar Geoff Howarth Martin Crowe Jeff Crowe	Lost[12]

Notes

References

External links

• "Statistics / Statsguru / Bob Willis / Test matches". ESPNcricinfo.