Bob Willis's ashes back among Geoff Merrill's McLaren Vale vines, south of Adelaide, that long bowled him over
Bob Willis in action for England and (inset) with South Australian winemaker Geoff Merrill and fellow England cricket star Ian Botham.
Inset image courtesy Sporting Wine Club/Botham Merrill Willis
England cricket captain and fast bowler Bob Willis for Ashes series against Australia 1977-81 chose to have some of his own ashes scattered in wine country south of Adelaide in 2020.
Geoff Merrill's McLaren Vale vineyard hosted a memorial service for Willis's family and friends, including fellow England cricket legend Ian Botham. Merrill formed a close friendship with Willis based on a mutual love of cricket and wine.
Willis loved Adelaide during almost 50 years of links. In 1971 at Adelaide Oval, Willis, in his third Test match, endeared himself to local fans by rescuing one of the ground's famous seagulls that had been hit by a Keith Stackpole on drive. Willis carried the injured bird to the boundary and the RSPCA revived it.
During a later Ashes tour, Merrill met Willis, who was having a beer with English spinner Geoff Miller, at an Adelaide hotel. In a joking exchange, in the era when the English cricketers were invited to the Barossa Valley on rest days, Merrill asked: “Why don't you come and try some decent wine rather than drinking that Barossa stuff?” Willis replied: “Well, why don't you come and drink some of this weasel’s piss you call beer?”
That cemented a long friendship, with Willis a regular visitor at Merrill’s winery.
Willis the gentle giant could be ferocious with the ball, such as his 8/ 43 in the 1981 Headingley Test against Australia 1981 and bowling the bouncer that broke Rick McCosker's jaw in the centenary test. Willis didn’t want to bowl to McCocker when he came out to bat again. He was in the mould of other northern English fast bowlers: Botham, Frank Tyson, Fred Trueman, Brian Statham, Harold Larwood.
Born in Sunderland in 1949, he moved south to Surrey where he became mesmerised by Bob Dylan's music – to the extent of adopting “Dylan” as a middle name. He died of prostate cancer in 2019 listening to his favourite Dylan song.
Merrill made a BMW a (Botham Merrill Willis) chardonnay to mark their shared friendship.
