Bob Willis would have enjoyed the irony. As an arch-critic but also huge supporter of the English first-class game, and as a Surrey player who flew the nest and was sanctioned for his troubles, he would have looked down on the scene at the Kia Oval this week, with players competing for the Bob Willis Trophy, and smiled. Out in the middle, where Surrey were toiling against Middlesex — flat pitch, sun shining, batsmen set — he would have nodded and sympathised with the bowlers. In the ground there was no one watching, of course, and he would have remembered that, too: the days of grind in the County Championship in front of few spectators. High in the rafters of the great stand opposite the

Source: The Times August 05, 2020 11:05 UTC