Day 2 of the India-England Test match to be dedicated to Bob Willis

The second day (July 2) of the rescheduled fixture between India and England will witness an annual fundraising event for the Bob Willis Fund at Edgbaston, Birmingham. 

Willis, the former England great, featured in 90 Test matches and 64 ODIs from 1971 to 1984 and scalped 405 wickets. He took a total of 899 Test wickets in First-class cricket at 24.99. 

The Warwickshire Cricket County Club has invited the fans to wear blue on Day 2 to celebrate the life of Willis, who died on December 4, 2019, due to prostate cancer. 

With a campaign called #BlueForBob, many activities are scheduled to be organized to increase awareness and raise funds for the research into prostate cancer. 

A special 'Bob's Bowling Zone' has been constructed, which will be used to challenge the crowd to deliver 2000 balls in a single day, with the figure assumed to be the number of men expected to be diagnosed with prostate cancer in the future. 

Alex Perkins, Sales & Marketing Director at Edgbaston, said they are proud to be part of this initiative and hope to raise awareness and funds for early detection of the deadly disease. 

"We are so proud to take part in #BlueForBob Day and to celebrate Bob Willis – one of the all-time cricketing greats who is sorely missed. We'd like to invite all our fans attending on the day to show their support and 'go blue' for Bob. 

"We hope that we can help to raise awareness and much-needed funds to support vital research into the better detection and diagnosis of prostate cancer."

Lauren Clark, Bob's wife and co-founder of the Bob Willis Fund, said they are overwhelmed with the support for the cause, which has raised over £500,000 since last year. 

"We have been overwhelmed by the support for #BlueForBob Day that has helped to raise over £500,000 since the launch of the Bob Willis Fund last year".