Sir Ian Botham

Sir Ian Botham signing books at Canary Wharf, 2009
Personal information
Full name	Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE
Born	(1955-11-24) 24 November 1955 (age 56) Heswall, Cheshire, England
Nickname	Beefy, Both, Guy[1]
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm fast-medium
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	England
Test debut (cap 474)	28 July 1977 v Australia
Last Test	18 June 1992 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 33)	26 August 1976 v West Indies
Last ODI	24 August 1992 v Pakistan
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1992–93	Durham
1987–91	Worcestershire
1987–88	Queensland
1974–86	Somerset
Career statistics
Competition	Tests	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	102	116	402	470
Runs scored	5200	2113	19399	10474
Batting average	33.54	23.21	33.97	29.50
100s/50s	14/22	0/9	38/97	7/46
Top score	208	79	228	175*
Balls bowled	21815	6271	63547	22899
Wickets	383	145	1172	612
Bowling average	28.40	28.54	27.22	24.94
5 wickets in innings	27	0	59	3
10 wickets in match	4	n/a	8	n/a
Best bowling	8/34	4/31	8/34	5/27
Catches/stumpings	120/–	36/–	354/–	196/–
Source: [1], 22 August 2007

Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE (born 24 November 1955) is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well-known by his nickname "Beefy".^[2] While a controversial player both on and off the field at times, Botham also held a number of Test cricket records, and still holds the record for the highest number of wickets taken by an England bowler.

He is generally regarded as being England's greatest ever all-rounder, particularly in Test cricket, although having earned celebrity status, his award of a knighthood was ostensibly in recognition of his services to charity.^[3]

Just like fellow cricketers Jim Cumbes and Arnold Sidebottom, Botham was also a talented footballer, and made 11 appearances in the Football League.

On 8 August 2009, Botham was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.^[4]

Early life[link]

Botham was born in Heswall on the Wirral, to Herbert Leslie Botham (who worked for Westland) and Violet Marie, née Collett (a nurse).^[5] Both his parents played cricket. He went to Milford Junior School in Yeovil, Somerset, where his "love affair" with sport began, and played for Somerset Under-15s.^[6] He left Bucklers Mead Comprehensive School at the age of 15 without completing his GCSEs, intent on playing cricket for Somerset, although he also had an offer to play football for Crystal Palace F.C.^[7] From an early age he was always single-minded. When informed that Botham wanted to be a sportsman, the Careers Mistress at his school said to him, "Fine, everyone wants to play sport, but what are you really going to do?" (interviewed BBC Radio 4's Fiona Glover, 20 November 2010, Saturday Live).

Domestic career[link]

In his non-first-class appearances for Somerset, his bowling figures did not stand out, but there were some sizeable scores, namely 91 for the Under-25s v Glamorgan Under-25s, 82 & 42 v Cornwall, 51 v Gloucester Under-25s, 50 v Glamorgan 2nd XI and in his last game (before his 1986 comeback match) 100 against Glamorgan 2nd XI.

In first-class cricket, he scored 19,399 runs at 33.97, took 1,172 wickets at 27.22 and held 354 catches. He played for Durham, Somerset and Worcestershire, as well as a season (1987–88) in Australia playing for Queensland.

Botham began his first-class career in 1974 with Somerset. In that year, when playing against Hampshire and facing the West Indian fast bowler Andy Roberts, a bouncer hit him straight in the mouth. He spat out teeth and simply carried on.^[8] In 1986 he resigned from Somerset County Cricket Club, in protest against the sacking of his friends Sir Viv Richards and Joel Garner, and joined Worcestershire, playing for that county between 1987 and 1991. In 1992, he joined County Championship newcomers Durham before retiring midway through the 1993 season, his last match being Durham's match against the visiting Australian XI.

Grade Cricket in Australia 1976/1977[link]

Only months before announcing his presence on the international scene, Botham played Grade cricket for the University of Melbourne Cricket Club during the 1976/77 Australian Domestic Season. In a season where 5 of the 15 rounds were abandoned owing to adverse weather, Botham joined up for the second half as a result of a sponsorship arranged through the TCCB by Whitbread's Brewery.^[9] He was joined by Yorkshire's Graham Stevenson. Botham played 4 matches, the first of which was against Northcote in a one-day game on 8 January 1977. Brought on as first change, he finished with figures of 10.5-0-83-0 (8-ball overs). He batted at number 4 being run out for 0. The opposition wicket-keeper Richie Robinson would be an opponent in the Test arena only months later. His second match was against St Kilda, scheduled as a 2-day game over consecutive weeks. It became a one day game after the first Saturday was washed out. His analysis was 10–1–39–2. He scored a hard hit 41 in 33 minutes with five 4s. His third appearance was against Essendon CC in another 2-day game. He was the side's most successful bowler with analyses of 22.7–2–92–4 but fell for another 0 caught of leg-spinner Keith Kirby. His last match was against North Melbourne CC. He was promoted to opening the batting but was caught for 3 off Neil Majewski. His bowling analysis was 27–4–86–0 against a side that included Rohan Kanhai and Ian Chappell. Prior to this game, the match against Richmond was abandoned because of rain and the last game was also abandoned. His complete analysis was 44 runs in 4 matches at a batting average of 11, and 6 wickets at a bowling average of 51.16. Botham took one catch.

International career[link]

Botham made his Test début for England on 28 July 1977 in the Third Test against Australia, where he took five wickets for 74 runs in the first innings.^[10] He went on to enjoy a Test career spanning 15 years, in which he played in 102 matches.

Botham finished his Test career with 5,200 runs at an average of 33.54, taking 383 wickets at an average of 28.40, and holding 120 catches. He is generally regarded as one of England's greatest Test players.^[11] He was also England's captain for 12 Tests in 1980 and 1981. As captain of the England XI, Botham is generally considered to have been unsuccessful. His tenure was brief and under his captaincy the team achieved no wins, 8 draws and 4 losses. In his defence, 9 of his matches as captain were against the best team of that era, the West Indies, who won 12 out of the next 13 Tests played against England.

Compared with many of cricket's greatest players, most of whom were specialists, Botham's averages seem fairly ordinary but this overlooks Botham's all-rounder status, which is rarely achieved at world-class level. Of note, Botham's first 202 wickets came at 21.20 per wicket, while his final 181 cost on average 36.43 apiece;^[12] the first average is one that would make Botham one of the greatest bowlers of the modern era, ranking alongside the West Indian greats Curtly Ambrose (career average 20.99), Malcolm Marshall (career average 20.94), and Joel Garner (career average 20.97), but the second average depicts a player who, as a specialist bowler, would be unable to sustain a place in many Test teams. This difference can be largely attributed to a back injury which limited Botham's bowling pace and his ability to swing the ball.

Botham's Test career performance graph.

Botham's batting – although never the equal of his bowling abilities – declined as well, with a batting average of 38.80 for his first 51 Tests substantially higher than the 28.87 he managed in his last 51 Tests,^[13] again a number that would be considered unsatisfactory for a specialist batsman in most Test sides. In the first 5 years of Botham's Test career, when not playing as captain, he scored 2557 runs at an average of 49.17 including 11 centuries and a highest score of 208, took 196 wickets at an average of 21.28 including nineteen 5 wicket hauls and held 50 catches.^[14] Such figures denote a player who would easily maintain a place in any Test side as a specialist batsman or bowler alone. During this period his reputation as one of the leading Test all-rounders was firmly established.

He was renowned as a big-hitting batsman, though with a classical technique of playing straight, and as a fast-medium paced swing bowler who could be very effective when atmospheric conditions favoured his style.

Records[link]

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 briefly held the world record for the greatest number of Test wickets, although his tally has subsequently been passed by several specialist bowlers. He still holds the record for the highest number of Test wickets taken by an England player (383).

Botham 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. In 1980, playing against India, he became the first player to score a century and take ten wickets in a Test match (Alan Davidson was the first to score 100 runs and take 10 wickets in a Test but that did not include a century).

During the 1981 Ashes, Botham set a record of six sixes in a single Ashes Test Match at Old Trafford. That record remained unbroken until 7 August 2005 when Andrew Flintoff scored five in the first innings and four in the second innings of the second Test at Edgbaston, and again until 12 September 2005, when Kevin Pietersen hit seven sixes in the second innings of the last Test at The Oval.

One Day Internationals[link]

Botham's ODI career included 116 games from 1976 to 1992. He made his debut on 26 August against the West Indies at Scarborough. He finished with a batting average of 23.21 (nine 50s, no 100s, cumulative score of 2113 runs), and a bowling average of 28.5 (strike rate 43.24, 145 wickets in total, best figures 4/31).

[edit] 1981 Ashes Tour: Botham's Ashes

In 1980 Botham had been appointed captain of the England team. However, his captaincy proved to be an unhappy one; he lost form and the team did not do well.

Botham (second from left) with fellow commentators Willis and Gower, politicians Alistair Campbell and James Erskine.

He resigned the captaincy after a loss and a draw in the first two Tests of the 1981 Ashes series. The resignation itself was the cause of controversy, with Sir Alec Bedser, Chairman of the TCCB selectors, making it clear after media questioning that Botham would have been fired in any event.^[15] Botham himself refers to the event as his "dismissal" in his autobiography. In this Test, the Second Test played at Lord's and his last as England captain, Botham was dismissed for a pair. He returned to an embarrassed silence in the pavilion and after the previous year's events at the centenary Test, this possibly was the final straw. For the remainder of his cricket-playing career, Botham refused to acknowledge MCC members in the pavilion when playing at Lord's.^[16] However, Botham subsequently accepted the honour of Honorary Life membership of MCC and his portrait (depicting him enjoying a cigar) now hangs prominently in the Long Room Bar at Lord's.

Mike Brearley, the captain whom Botham had replaced, took up the reins again for the Third Test scheduled for 16 to 21 July, at Headingley. Australia won the toss and elected to bat. They batted all day Thursday and most of Friday, declaring after tea at 401 for 9, John Dyson having made 102 and Botham having taken 6 for 95. The England openers Graham Gooch and Geoff Boycott survived the remaining few overs, and England finished the day on 7 for no wicket.

The next day, Saturday, was a disaster for England: Gooch was out in the first over of the day, and although Boycott and Brearley then attempted to dig in, they were both out before lunch. None of the other batsmen got going at all with the exception of Botham who top scored with 50 — his first half century since his first Test as captain 13 matches earlier. England were all out in the third session for 174. Australia enforced the follow-on and piled on the pressure; Gooch was out for 0 on his third ball of the first over caught by Terry Alderman off the bowling of Dennis Lillee. By the close, England had struggled to just 6 for 1, still 221 behind Australia.

By all accounts, both teams' players thought Australia would win the match; indeed the England team had enjoyed a raucous barbecue chez Botham on the Saturday evening, such was their lack of faith in a positive result. Sunday 19 July was a rest-day and the newspapers roasted the lamentable England performance. Morale was not improved by Ladbrokes offering odds of 500–1 against England winning the match, as displayed on the Headingley electronic scoreboard! Controversially, the Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh and opening bowler Dennis Lillee both placed bets on England to win, later claiming that 500–1 were silly (if not incredible) odds on any two-horse race.

On the Monday morning 500–1 odds began to look somewhat more ungenerous as first Brearley, then David Gower and Mike Gatting all fell cheaply reducing England to 41 for 4. Boycott was still anchored at the other end however, and he and Peter Willey added 50 runs before lunch. In the afternoon, Willey was out for 33 and England were still in deep trouble at 105 for 5 when Botham went in to bat. Matters did not improve as first Geoff Boycott and then Bob Taylor were quickly dismissed. At 135 for 7 an innings defeat looked almost certain.

When Graham Dilley joined him at the crease, Botham reportedly said, "Right then, let's have a bit of fun...". With able support from Dilley (56) and Chris Old (29), Botham hit out and by the close of play was 145 not out with Bob Willis hanging on at the other end on 1 not out. England's lead was just 124 but there remained some glimmer of hope. On the final day's play there was time for just four more runs from Botham before Willis was out and Botham was left on 149 not out. Wisden rated this innings as the 4th best of all time.^[17]

Botham batting at Trent Bridge, 1983

Willis' far greater contribution was with the ball. After Botham took the first wicket, Willis skittled Australia out for just 111, finishing with figures of 8 for 43 – rated by Wisden as the 7th best bowling performance of all time.^[18] England had won by just 18 runs. It was only the second time in history that a team following-on had won a Test match.^[19]

The next Test match, at Edgbaston, looked almost as hopeless, if not hapless, from England's point of view. In a low scoring match (no-one made a score over 48), Australia needed 151 to win. At 105–5, things looked a little worrying for them, but an Australian win still seemed the most likely result. Botham then took 5 wickets for only 1 run in 28 balls to give England victory by 29 runs. Later, Brearley said that Botham had not wanted to bowl and had to be persuaded to do so.^[20]

The Old Trafford Test was less of a turnaround and more of a team effort than the previous two Tests, but Botham again was England's hero hitting yet another century in what Lillee claimed to be a better innings than his Headingley heroics. Botham had joined Chris Tavaré with the score at 104–5. Botham then scored 118 in a partnership of 149 before he was dismissed. He hit six sixes in this innings, three off Lillee's bowling, two of them in the same over. Remarkably, even though he seemed to take his eye off the ball while hooking some fearsome Lillee bouncers, his sheer power and strength carried the ball over the boundary rope. In total Botham batted for 5 hours shorter than Tavaré and yet scored 40 more runs. England won that match, then drew the last one at The Oval (Botham taking 6 wickets in the first innings), and thereby winning the series 3–1. Hardly surprisingly, Botham was named Man of the Series, scoring 399 runs and taking 34 wickets.

Football career[link]

A talented footballer as well as cricketer, Botham had to choose very early in his career whether to play professional football or cricket.^[21] At one point during his career, in an effort to get fit after an injury,^[22] in March 1980 he joined the football club Scunthorpe United, where he played as a centre half and made 11 appearances in the Football League.^[23] He also had a spell at Yeovil Town.^[23]

Controversy[link]

Botham often courted controversy and was suspended briefly in 1986 for smoking cannabis^[24] and was allegedly accused of racism and ball tampering by Imran Khan.^[25] This would become the subject of a court case later on, one that Imran Khan would go on to win. Botham was liable for all expenses in the court case in the ruling, even those incurred by Imran Khan.^[26] He also fell out publicly with other players, including fellow England opener Geoff Boycott, Somerset captain Peter Roebuck, and Australian batsman Ian Chappell, with whom he had an altercation in an Adelaide Oval car park during the 2010–11 Ashes series.^{[27][28][29][30][31]} His private life has also made occasional dramatic appearances in Britain's tabloid newspapers, with at least one extramarital affair prompting a public apology to his wife Kathy.^[32] Botham was also sacked from the Queensland team after being arrested for assault of a fellow airline passenger.^[33]

Charity walks[link]

Botham has been a prodigious fundraiser for charitable causes, undertaking a total of 12 long-distance charity walks. His first, in 1985, was a 900-mile trek from John o' Groats to Land's End. His efforts were inspired after a visit to Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital whilst receiving treatment for a broken toe; when he took a wrong turn into a children's ward, he was devastated to learn that some of the children had only weeks to live, and why.^[34] Since then, his efforts have raised more than £12 million for charity, with Leukaemia Research among the causes to benefit.^[35]

Honours[link]

• 2010 Botham was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by the University of Lincoln.
• 2008 Botham was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Sports Science by Leeds Metropolitan University.^[36]
• 2008 Botham was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Bath.
• 2007 Botham was honoured as Knight Bachelor by HM Government in the Queen's Birthday Honours, again in recognition of his cricket achievements and his sustained efforts in raising money for Leukaemia research (see above).^[37] He was knighted by HM The Queen at Buckingham Palace on 10 October 2007
• 2004 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.
• 2003 First ever President of Leukaemia Research, the UK's leading blood cancer charity.
• 1992 Botham was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket and for his charity work in the Queen's Birthday Honours.^[38]
• 1988 Awarded Pipe Smoker of the Year
• 1981 Voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
• 1978 Elected one of Wisden's Five Cricketers of the Year.

Test centuries and five-wicket innings[link]

Botham achieved the double of making a century and taking 5 wickets in an innings in the same Test match 5 times. Only three other players have achieved this feat more than once: Sir Gary Sobers, Mushtaq Mohammad and Jacques Kallis, who have each done it twice.^[39] He is the only man to have made a century and take 8 wickets in an innings in the same Test match, 108 and 8/34 against Pakistan at Lord's in 1978. Botham was also the first of only two men to make a century and take 10 wickets in the same Test match, the other being Imran Khan. Botham did this in the Centenary Test in Bombay in 1979–80 (114, 6/58 and 7/48), the last match before he became England captain. In the 25 Tests he played before he became captain he made 6 centuries and took 5 wickets in an innings 14 times, including 10 in a match 3 times, an astonishing record.

Ian Botham's 14 Test Centuries and 27 Test Five Wickets Hauls
No	100s	No	5 Wt	Test	Opponents	Season	Venue	City	Country	Result
		1	5/75	Third Test	Australia	1977	Trent Bridge	Nottingham	England	England won by 7 wickets
		2	5/21	Fourth Test	Australia	1977	Headingley Stadium	Leeds	England	England won by an innings and 85 runs
1	103	3	5/73	Second Test	New Zealand	1977–78	Lancaster Park	Christchurch	New Zealand	England won by 174 runs
		4	5/109	Third Test	New Zealand	1977–78	Eden Park	Auckland	New Zealand	Match Drawn
2	100			First Test	Pakistan	1978	Edgbaston Cricket Ground	Birmingham	England	England won by an innings and 57 runs
3	108	5	8/34	Second Test	Pakistan	1978	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	England won by an innings and 120 runs
		6	6/34	Second Test	New Zealand	1978	Trent Bridge	Nottingham	England	England won by and innings an 119 runs
		7 8	6/101 5/39	Third Test	New Zealand	1978	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	England won by 7 wickets
		9	5/70	First Test	India	1979	Edgbaston Cricket Ground	Birmingham	England	England won by an innings and 83 runs
		10	5/35	Second Test	India	1979	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	Match Drawn
4	137			Third Test	India	1979	Headingley Stadium	Leeds	England	Match Drawn
		11 12	6/78 5/98	First Test	Australia	1979–80	WACA Ground	Perth	Australia	Australia won by 138 runs
5	119*			Third Test	Australia	1979–80	Melbourne Cricket Ground	Melbourne	Australia	Australia won by 8 wickets
6	114	13 14	6/58 7/48	Centenary Test	India	1979–80	Wankhede Stadium	Bombay	India	England won by 10 wickets
7	149*	15	6/95	Third Test	Australia	1981	Headingley Stadium	Leeds	England	England won by 18 runs
		16	5/11	Fourth Test	Australia	1981	Edgbaston Cricket Ground	Birmingham	England	England won by 29 runs
8	118			Fifth Test	Australia	1981	Old Trafford Cricket Ground	Manchester	England	England won by 103 runs
		17	6/125 4/128	Sixth Test	Australia	1981	Kennington Oval	London	England	Match Drawn
		18	5/61	First Test	India	1981–82	Wankhede Stadium	Bombay	India	India won by 138 runs
9	142			Sixth Test	India	1981–82	Modi Stadium	Kanpur	India	Match Drawn
		19	5/46	First Test	India	1982	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	England won by 7 wickets
10	128			Second Test	India	1982	Old Trafford Cricket Ground	Manchester	England	Match Drawn
11	208			Third Test	India	1982	Kennington Oval	London	England	Match Drawn
		20	5/74	Third Test	Pakistan	1982	Headingley Stadium	Leeds	England	England won by 3 wickets
12	103			Fourth Test	New Zealand	1983	Trent Bridge	Nottingham	England	England won by 165 runs
13	138	21	5/59	First Test	New Zealand	1983–84	Basin Reserve	Wellington	New Zealand	Match Drawn
		22	8/103	Second Test	West Indies	1984	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	West Indies won by 9 wickets
		23	5/72	Fifth Test	West Indies	1984	Kennington Oval	London	England	West Indies won by 172 runs
		24	6/90	First Test	Sri Lanka	1984	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	Match Drawn
		25	5/109	Second Test	Australia	1985	Lord's Cricket Ground	London	England	Australia won by 4 wickets
		26	5/71	Fourth Test	West Indies	1985–86	Queen's Park Oval	Port of Spain	Trinidad and Tobago	West Indies won by 10 wickets
14	138			First Test	Australia	1986–87	Brisbane Cricket Ground	Brisbane	Australia	England won by 7 wickets
		27	5/41	Fourth Test	Australia	1986–87	Melbourne Cricket Ground	Melbourne	Australia	England won by an innings and 14 runs

Personal life[link]

In 1976, in the Borough of Doncaster, Botham married Kathryn Waller (Kathy, now Lady Botham) whom he first met in June 1974. After their marriage, they lived until the late 1980s in Epworth, near Scunthorpe. They have two daughters Becky (born November 1985) and Sarah, and a son Liam (born August 1977). Sarah works for Sky as a production assistant, and Liam was a professional cricketer and rugby player, before becoming a commentator for Sky Sports. Sir Ian and Kathy, their son and daughter-in-law (and their three children) all live in Ravensworth in North Yorkshire. Botham is an enthusiastic football fan and supports Sunderland,^[40] Chelsea and Rangers. Botham is also a supporter of the Conservative Party.^[41]

Botham is colourblind.^[42]

Publications[link]

• Botham, Ian (September 1994). My Autobiography: Don't Tell Kath.... 
• Botham, Ian (October 2007). Head On – Ian Botham: The Autobiography. Ebury Press. ISBN 978-0-09-192148-4. 
• Former cricketer Ian Botham talks to Sir David Frost about his new autobiography "Head on".

See also[link]

• List of England Test cricket records

Notes[link]