Eight for 43, after nought for 72

Bob Willis bowled thirty overs in Australia's first innings at Headingley and took no wickets. His figures were 30–8–72–0. Ian Botham took six for 95 at the other end, Graham Dilley two, Peter Willey one, and Australia declared at 401 for nine.

John Dyson made 102 in that innings and Kim Hughes 89. Willis bowled at both of them for the better part of two days and neither gave him anything. Eight of his thirty overs were maidens, which is the only number in the line that suggests he bowled well.

Thirty-six hours later he had taken eight for 43 and England had won a Test they had been made to follow on in. The match has one name attached to it, and it is not his.

The wicket that was his

At the close of the fourth day England were 351 for nine in their second innings, 124 ahead. Botham was 145 not out. The man at the other end, on 1 not out, was Willis.

He faced nine balls in all and was out on the fifth morning, caught by Allan Border off Terry Alderman for 2. England were all out for 356. Australia needed 130. Willis's contribution to the batting that set the target was two runs, a not out overnight, and thirty-one minutes at the crease.

Fifty-six for one

Botham took the first wicket, Graeme Wood caught behind for 10 at 13. Then Dyson and Trevor Chappell took Australia to 56, and the target was 74 away with nine wickets in hand.

Willis had Chappell caught behind by Bob Taylor at 56. Hughes, the captain, came in and was caught by Botham for nought at 58. Graham Yallop was caught by Mike Gatting for nought, also at 58. Three wickets had gone for two runs.

Chris Old bowled Border for nought at 65. Willis took the next three. Dyson caught behind for 34 at 68. Rod Marsh caught by Dilley for 4 at 74. Geoff Lawson caught behind for 1 at 75. Australia had gone from 56 for one to 75 for eight: seven wickets for nineteen runs, six of them to Willis.

Thirty-five for the ninth

Ray Bright and Dennis Lillee then put on 35. Lillee made 17 from 15 balls with three fours. At 110 for eight Australia needed twenty, and the innings that would be remembered as a rout was, for thirty-five runs, a chase.

Willis had Lillee caught by Gatting at 110. Then he bowled Bright for 19. Australia were all out for 111 in 36.1 overs, and England had won by 18 runs.

What the card gives him

Fifteen overs and one ball, three maidens, 43 runs, eight wickets. Botham bowled seven overs for 14 and one wicket. Old nine for 21 and one. Dilley two overs and Willey three, no wickets between them.

The player of the match was Botham. The scorecard lists his reasons in a row: 6 for 95, 50, 149 not out, and 1 for 14. Four entries. Willis has one entry, and it is the one that ended the match.

The card notes that it was only the second time in the history of Test cricket that a side following on had won.

The order it happened in

Thirty overs without a wicket on the first two days. A night as the last man standing with Botham. Nine balls and out on the fifth morning. Then eight for 43.

That sequence is on the scorecard, in the bowling figures for both innings and one batting line in the second. It is not in the story, because the story was finished by the time he took the ball. Botham's 149 had turned a certain defeat into a possible one. What Willis did was turn a possible defeat into an 18-run win, and only the second of those is the one the result records.

The umpires were Barrie Meyer and David Evans. Test number 905. The series was level at one apiece afterwards, which is the other line the card records.

Full scorecard: England v Australia, 3rd Test, Headingley, 16–21 July 1981 →

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No. 6 in The Other Guy, a series of 24.

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