# List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Bob Willis

Bob Willis was a right-arm fast bowler, who represented the England cricket team in 90 Tests between 1971 and 1984. In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five-for" or "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and as of October 2024, only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers. In Test cricket, Willis took 325 wickets, including 16 five-wicket hauls. 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."
Willis made his Test debut during the fourth Test of the 1970–71 Ashes series, against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground. His first Test five-wicket haul came in the third Test of the 1974–75 Ashes series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Willis' career-best figures for an innings were 8 wickets for 43 runs—seventh among Top 100 Bowling performances of all time by Wisden—at Headingley, during the 1981 Ashes series. 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. He was most successful against Australia, taking seven five-wicket hauls.
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, and 39 years until a captain took five wickets in an Ashes Test, which Pat Cummins did in December 2021.
Willis made his One Day International (ODI) debut against the West Indies at Headingley, during the 1973 Prudential Trophy. 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. As of 2021, Willis is thirty-ninth overall among all-time combined five-wicket haul takers.

## Key

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 | 61 | 5 | 2.09 | Wally Edwards Greg Chappell Ian Chappell Max Walker Jeff Thomson | Drawn |
| 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 |
| 3 | 1 January 1977 | Eden Gardens, Calcutta | India | 1 | 20.0 | 27 | 5 | 1.35 | Sunil Gavaskar Brijesh Patel Eknath Solkar Erapalli Prasanna B. S. Chandrasekhar | Won |
| 4 | 28 January 1977 | Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium, Bangalore | India | 1 | 17.0 | 53 | 6 | 3.11 | Brijesh Patel Yajurvindra Singh Syed Kirmani Karsan Ghavri E. A. S. Prasanna B. S. Chandrasekhar | Lost |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 8 | 10 February 1978 | Basin Reserve, Wellington | New Zealand | 3 | 15.0 | 32 | 5 | 1.60 | John Wright Geoff Howarth Bev Congdon John Parker Richard Hadlee | Lost |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 11 | 15 December 1978 | WACA Ground, Perth | Australia | 2 | 18.5 | 44 | 5 | 1.77 | Kim Hughes Graham Yallop Gary Cosier Rodney Hogg Alan Hurst | Won |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |