Ian Botham

Template:Infobox Cricketer Ian Terence Botham OBE, (born November 24, 1955 in Heswall, Cheshire) (nicknamed "Beefy") was one of England's best-ever cricketers and one of the best all-round cricketers of all time. In a Test career spanning 15 years from 1977, he scored 5,200 runs at 33.54, and took 383 wickets at an average of 28.40. Similarly successful at one-day cricket, he was a Wisden cricketer of the year in 1978.

Whilst his averages suggest he was an average batsman and bowler, they belie his reputation as one of the greatest match winners of the game. He tended to play to extremes, so if Botham played well, he often seemed to win the match on his own.

He was renowned as a big-hitting batsman but with a surprisingly classical technique, and as a fast-medium paced swing bowler. In his later career after a back injury, his pace diminished to no more than a gentle medium, but he seemed to retain the knack of taking wickets regardless.

Contents

1 On the field 1.1 Records 1.2 "Botham's Ashes" 2 Off the field 3 Family History 4 External links

On the field

A talented footballer as well as cricketer, Botham had to choose very early in his career whether to play professional football or cricket. Later on, to get fit after an injury, he played for Scunthorpe United.

Botham started his first-class career with Somerset in 1974. He left Somerset in 1985 as a protest against the sacking of his friends Viv Richards and Joel Garner, and played for Worcestershire between 1986 and 1991. In 1992, he joined County Championship newcomers Durham before retiring midway through the 1993 season, poignantly after Durham's match against the touring Australians. He also played for Queensland although his time there was tarnished by incidents in an aircraft, which also involved Allan Border and a passenger.

He made his Test debut for England on 28 July 1977 in the Third Test against Australia . He played 102 Tests, and was England captain for 12 Tests in 1980 and 1981. However, he was unsuccessful in that role, with 8 draws and 4 losses although in his defence, 9 of his matches as captain were against the best team of the time, the West Indies.

His career coincided with the careers of several other great all-rounders, including Richard Hadlee, Imran Khan, and Kapil Dev. As a result, the 1980s is considered to be a golden era for the all-rounder. Botham's best world rankings were first and third in bowling and batting respectively.

Records

Ian Botham holds a number of Test records as an all-rounder, including being the fastest (in terms of matches) to achieve the "doubles" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets, 2,000 runs and 200 wickets, and 3,000 runs and 300 wickets.

He was the first player to score 5,000 runs and take 300 Test wickets, and the first to score a century and take 10 wickets in the same Test match. He scored a century and took 5 wickets in an innings in the same Test match on 5 occasions; no-one else has managed this feat more than twice.

When he retired, he held the world record for the greatest number of Test wickets, although his tally has subsequently been passed by several players.

"Botham's Ashes"

In 1980, Botham was the pre-eminent all-rounder in world cricket, and was appointed captain of the England team. However, his captaincy was not a happy one; he lost form and the team did not do well (see above). He resigned the captaincy after a loss and a draw in the first two Tests of the 1981 Ashes series; he was dismissed for a "pair" in the Second Test at Lord's. The Australian team was rated as second only to the great West Indies team of the time, and contained a formidable pace attack in the form of Dennis Lillee, Geoff Lawson and Terry Alderman.

Mike Brearley, the captain Botham had replaced, took over the reins for the Third Test, at Headingley. The match started out badly for England; Australia scored 401, and England was forced to follow on after being dismissed for 174. The only bright point in the innings came from Botham, who top scored with 50, his first half century since his first Test as captain 13 matches earlier. In the second innings, Botham came to the crease with England in trouble at 5-105, still 126 behind. Matters did not improve as Geoff Boycott and Bob Taylor were soon dismissed, and an innings defeat looked likely.

By all accounts, both teams' players thought Australia would win the match. When Graham Dilley joined him at the crease, Botham reportedly said, "Right then, let's have a bit of fun...." With able support from the lower order, Botham hit out and scored 149 not out, giving England a slender lead of 129. The next day a fired-up Bob Willis took 8 for 43, and Australia slumped to 111 all out. It was only the second time in history that a team following on had gone on to win a Test match.

Ladbrokes famously offered 500-1 against England winning the Headingley test. (Equally famously, and controversially, Rodney Marsh and Dennis Lillee placed bets on England to win, claiming that 500-1 were silly odds on any two-horse race.)

The next Test match, at Edgbaston looked almost as hopeless for England. In a low scoring match (no-one made a score over 48), Australia needed 151 to win. At 5-105, things looked a little worrying for them, but an Australian win was still the most likely result. Botham then took 5 wickets for 1 run in 28 balls to give England the win by 29 runs. (Later, Brearley said that Botham hadn't wanted to bowl and had to be persuaded.)

The Old Trafford Test was less of a turnaround and more of a team performance than the previous two Tests, but Botham again was England's hero, scoring 118 in what Lillee claimed was a better innings than his Headingley heroics. England won the match, then drew the last match at The Oval (Botham took 6 wickets in the first innings) to take the series 3-1.

Unsurprisingly, Botham was named man of the series, scoring 399 runs and taking 34 wickets. He was made BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1981. He is one of only three cricketers to receive the honour, the others being Jim Laker in 1956 and David Steele in 1975.

Off the field

A colourful character, Botham was suspended briefly in 1986 for smoking cannabis, and his private life has occasionally made dramatic appearances in Britain's tabloid newspapers. He is married with three children. His son Liam Botham is a professional Rugby Union player.

After retiring as a player, he became an authoritative television commentator and has participated in a number of long-distance fund-raising walks for charities. He has raised more than five million pounds, with leukaemia research amongst the causes which have benefited.

Botham was appointed an OBE in 1992 for services to cricket and for his charity work. For several years, he was a resident team captain on the BBC quiz show "A Question Of Sport", and he has also taken up offers of appearing in pantomimes during the Christmas period. In 2004, he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.

Family History

Ian Botham's father came from East Yorkshire. When Ian was young, his father was stationed with the Fleet Air Arm in Northern Ireland, before he moved to Yeovil, where he worked at Westland Helicopters. Botham went to Milford Junior School, where he discovered a liking for sport especially cricket, and played for Somerset Under-15s. He left Buckler's Mead Comprehensive School at 15, being only interested in playing cricket for Somers, although he also had an offer to join Crystal Palace F.C.. From an early age, he always wanted his own way in a devoutly, almost religious, single-minded fashion. When informed that Ian wanted to be a sportsman, the careers master at his school said to him 'Fine, everyone wants to play sport, but what are you really going to do?'.

External links

• Template:Cricinfo

Template:5WI 25 times Template:English test match double

Preceded by: Mike Brearley

English national cricket captain 1980-1981

Succeeded by: Mike Brearley Template:End box