Sir Ian Terrence Botham is a former English test cricketer and test team captain. He is currently a cricket commentator. He was nicknamed Beefy and he was a genuine all rounder. He has 14 test centuries and 383 wickets under his belt. He was a controversial player both on and off the field. He holds a number of records in test cricket. He still holds the record for highest number of wickets taken by an English bowler. He was a talented footballer as well making 11 appearances in the football league.
Ian Botham was born in Heswall on 24th November 1955. Both his parents played cricket. He was always single minded and wanted to become a sportsperson right from the age of fifteen. He started his career in non first class cricket for Somerset where initially his bowling figures did not stand out but he did well in batting. He made some sizeable scores against Glamorgan, Cornwall, Gloucester and Glamorgan 2nd. In first class cricket he scored a total of 19,399 runs and took 1,172 wickets at an average of 27.22. He also took 354 catches. His first class career started with Somerset in 1974. In that year during a match he faced Andy Roberts while batting. A bouncer hit him on the face and he broke a tooth but he simply spat it out and carried on. He resigned in 1986 and joined Worcestershire playing for that county between 1987 and 1991. In 1992 he joined Durham, the county championships newcomers, before retiring midway through the 1993 season.
Ian Botham made his test debut for England on 28 July 1977 in the third test against Australia. His test career lasted for 15 years during which he played 102 matches. He finished his career with 5200 runs at an average of 33.54 and took 383 wickets at an average of 28.40 holding 120 catches. He was the captain of England for 12 tests between 1980 and 1981. Ian Botham is regarded as England’s greatest test cricketer of all time. Comparing with most of the other players Ian Botham’s statistics look fairly ordinary but this overlooks the fact that he was an all rounder which is very difficult to achieve at world class level. Ian Botham was an asset to the world of cricket and was one of the finest all rounders of the game.