ON THIS DAY
Follow UsFormer England cricket legend Graham Gooch had astonishingly asked his fellow teammate Ian Botham, “Who writes your scripts, Beefy?”, after the latter had both equalled and broken Denis Lillee’s record for the most wickets taken in world cricket against New Zealand in 1986.
The entire world, however, could resonate with Gooch that day. Botham had made a comeback yet again, this time after a two-month suspension following the consumption of marijuana and the English media asking for his head for the umpteenth time.
A 31-year-old Botham was half as effective by then but there was something something about comebacks that always made him dangerous. He would dismiss Bruce Edgar in his very first ball, before going on to catch Jeff Crowe’s leg-before wicket for his career’s 356th scalp. Botham would further follow it up with an unbeaten 59 to put any reservations about England’s defeat beyond doubt.
While this wasn’t a career-defining innings for one of the four most revered all-rounders of the 1980s, this pretty much defined Botham’s pattern while playing for England. With a strong appetite for win, pressure could hardly get the better of Botham which led to multiple unbelievable moments in his career.
One of the first incidents that hinted at things to come from the Cheshire-lad happened during Botham’s inaugural year with Somerset in first-class cricket in 1974 when he would just brush aside his broken teeth and bloodied mouth from an Andy Roberts bouncer to get on with the game.
The English management should take a lot of blame for elevating Botham’s progress into the England team at rocket speed which did more bad than good for the side. Not only was Botham picked into the England playing eleven just three years into his first-class cricket, but he was also made the captain within the next three years. While envisaging Botham as a top all-rounder who could change England’s fortune wasn’t wrong, expecting him to do it as England’s captain was a grave miscalculation.
Botham resigned from the leadership role within four years, after captaining 12 matches and winning none, although 10 of those games were against the fearsome West Indies side of the ‘80s. However, downfall and comeback went hand-in-hand for Botham, and he reacted by becoming the first man in cricket to score a century and take 10 wickets. It would come against India in 1980; Botham tallied 114 runs in the first innings apart from taking five wickets apiece in each innings.
It was followed by a long lean patch though, where Botham wouldn’t score a fifty for over 10 matches and the English media headlining “Botham must go” amidst all the chaos. However, when another low appeared for Botham, alongside came the Headingley opportunity. With the odds against England of 500/1 disgracefully flashed on the display board, Botham would score an unbeaten 149 that helped England defeat Australia from the brink of defeat.
Not only this win but Botham must be credited for burying Australia’s ghost. The remaining series was all Ian Botham as he would take five wickets in Edgbaston, six in Oval before scoring another ton against the Aussies in Manchester to win the Ashes for England. With 399 runs and 34 wickets, Botham was named the Man of the Series.
Botham’s career was always ebbing and flowing. Coming down the order, he never had enough time to make an impact but he would still go on to score 14 centuries and even a double century against India, to end his career with 5200 runs with an average of 33.54.
However, he was never on the English side as a specialist batsman. The right-arm medium pacer was known for his mastery in swing bowling as his outswinging delivery was as lethal as his fast inswinging yorker. Botham’s clever use of pace was fundamental in his achieving 383 wickets in Test cricket. In ODIs, Botham’s numbers were middling at best as he tallied 2113 runs and took 145 wickets in 116 matches.
With injuries taking a toll and Botham gaining weight, he would retire after England’s tour of Pakistan in 1992.
