Bob Willis Trophy

The Bob Willis Trophy was a domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales for the eighteen first-class counties, organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

Bob Willis Trophy

Countries	England  Wales
Administrator	England and Wales Cricket Board
Format	First-class cricket
First edition	2020
Latest edition	2021
Tournament format	Final
Number of teams	2
Current champion	Warwickshire (1st title)
Most successful	Warwickshire Essex (1 title each)

It was established in the 2020 English cricket season. The tournament was named the Bob Willis Trophy^[1] in honour of former England cricket captain and fast bowler Bob Willis, who died in December 2019.^[2]

While in 2020 it was promoted as being a one-off competition,^[3] the Bob Willis Trophy was contested again in 2021 as a five-day final between the top two teams in County Championship Division One.^[4] In January 2022, the ECB announced that the Bob Willis Trophy would not be played to end that year's championship; managing director of county cricket Neil Snowball said that the ECB was discussing the future format of the trophy with Willis's family.^[5]

From 2022 the trophy was adopted by the Cricket Writers' Club, to be presented to their England's player of the year. The inaugural winner was Jonny Bairstow.^[6]

Results

Year	Format	Final
		Venue	Winners	Result	Runners-up
2020	Leagues and final	Lord's	Essex 337/8 & 179/6	Essex won on first innings scores after match drawn Scorecard	Somerset 301 & 272/7d
2021	Single match	Lord's	Warwickshire 518	Warwickshire won by an innings and 199 runs Scorecard	Lancashire 78 & 241

References

1. "All First-Class Counties committed to playing same red-ball and white-ball competitions". England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
2. "Bob Willis Trophy: Shortened red-ball competition named after ex-England captain". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
3. "Everything you need to know about the Bob Willis Trophy". England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
4. "County Championship: Competition returns in 2021 alongside Bob Willis Trophy". BBC Sport. 16 October 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
5. "County Championship: More June and July games scheduled in 2022 fixtures". BBC Sport. 20 January 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
6. "Jonny Bairstow wins Cricket Writers' Club Bob Willis Trophy". BBC Sport. 4 October 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2023.