Ian Botham 5 for 41 at the MCG Ashes 1986/7

[coys77]

Love the little amble up to the wicket and the trademark action..

[vulpecula999]

the keeper certainly made a meal of those catches

[TheSinnical]

seems he was pretty slow even then....i think speed hardly crossed 80s....

[MCBhangramuffin]

He was playing with a side strain, and was so unfit he probably shoudn't have played in the match. Still took 5-fer, that's how damn good he was.

[PedroH35]

@MCBhangramuffin Well said mate1

[HengistTheGreat]

@MCBhangramuffin

The bloke could take wickets with an orange!

[DaddyFabalus]

I'm sure there was sustained pressure on the Aussie batsmen, but nearly all of these wickets are from crap batting rather than awesome balls. No offense to Botham or this English team, I was just hoping for some corkers.

[joonsy386]

Nowt to do wih a bowler in his pomp eh?. What do you think enforced this batting collapse?. The greatest living Englishman, thats who!

[Zansal35]

The Aussie crowd were booing their own players at the end here - marvelous!

[ellycat]

Sack Peter Moores and get the Both in NOW!

[StuartMB68]

As the yanks would say "A-men to that one brother"!!! I could not agree with you more ellycat!

[sledge999]

World`s best ever.

[theredhackle22]

what do you think of that then?

[scooperzed]

Of course he is,oh just one thing what is a "sot"? and by the way you obviously know fuck all about cricket then,you prick.

[azarimanka]

I consider i know more than you

of course he was a great cricketer - certainly the best allrounder england have ever had but that doesnt help the fact that he is a bad influence on the team now. his time is now over and he should stop trying to behave with current team members as though he is still in the team

[scooperzed]

Have you ever played the game professionally or met the great man? I didn't think so because you talk out of your arse and as for upsetting todays team what shit you talk,the man talk from the heart and most importantly a fan who wants England to win and win well,89% of people want to see him on the board of selectors because he knows what fans want(FACT)he's earned the right to,if you have nothing constructive to say(which you don't)THEN FUCK OFF.

[azarimanka]

actually i have met Ian Botham, but i stand by what i say. And as for you your coarse language is only an indicator that you know that your argument doesn't work - oh and another thing i dont talk 'shit' nor do i talk from my 'arse' one talks with the mouth, on the face.

[scooperzed]

Hahaha did you think that up all by yourself,the reason for my coarse language is because idiots like you have no understanding of the game then or today,so its not a indicator of my argument not working,just you talking total bollocks about something you have't a clue about,go back to reading the Guardian,when you something of substance worth reading,put it on here but until then don't waste my time,twat.

[azarimanka]

I have been a dedicated follower of english cricket at both county and national level, i have seen many more games of cricket than yourself and consider myself not only to have a good understanding of the game, but also a loyalty to it, and as such i feel free to express whatever views I wish, yet without resorting to coarse language

[scooperzed]

Oh la-de-da,a follower whos obviously never played a high standard(and yes i have before you even think it)you say you have a "good understanding and a "loyalty" to it,and yet you say Sir Ian Botham Englands greatest ever player(BAR NONE)is a drunken "sot" your a fucking idiot,who knows fuck all about the game and wasting my time

[scooperzed]

Arise Sir Ian "Beefy" Botham,well deserved a true sporting legend and genius,just one question why did it take so long?

[wr0ngun]

england love ya beefy!!

i wouldnt say he was the worlds greatest, or even englands at that.

he even said himself, that his style was "run up and hope". cant say that bout his batting tho, awesome.

most of his wickets were top edges, which suggests poor shot selection on his opponents parts.

[Kr8mer]

Botham bowled away swing at fast medium pace and was the world's leading wicket taker for a while and is still the highest English wicket taker (383) of all time.

He 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.

before his back injury, his first 202 wickets came at 21.20 per wicket and a batting average of 38.80.

[graemp]

Interesting to see wicket keeper Jack Richards whose star shone too briefly at this level. Odd that no one nailed down the keeping spot in the 1980s.

[mymentor]

I'd agree with that. The more I watch matches from as recently as this era, I tend to think that today's wicketkeeping is relatively poor by comparison. The priority seems to be a batsman who can handle the gloves.

None of today's batch could hold a candle to Knott or Marsh, IMO.

[cossack1001]

CLASS

[pauljohn8769]

Botham was a superb swing bowler; this shows him on his last legs as a bowler, getting people out by reputation alone! What class, what a cricketer and character.

[handfull33]

Garbage. he was rubbish pauljohn8768

[lancashirelife]

brilliant bowler one of the best

[martinjolsbluearmy]

omg i met beefy on wednesday hes such a nice bloke

[aceslespaul]

bot ham bot ham

[sledge999]

The greatest cricketer of all time.

[amzalot]

pitty he got blighted with injuries rlly innit? still brilliant cricketer though

[Sobob99]

do you have the clip when her got the most wickets?

[eyesonthetube]

Hardly scary, botham looks. Like he says, they kept nicking it, or missing it. Pretty much sums up his whole bowling career actually. Must have been a pretty intelligent bowler if he picked up 370 wickets at that pace.

[madbob73]

No, this was after his back injury. He was finished as a bowler and this was his last hurrah.

Between 77-84 he was a fantastic swing bowler around 83-4  mph and could be genuinely quick.

[class66]

yes the back thing did him in, between 81-82 he was ratwd no1 bowler in test cricket, facts dont lie

[englandwc06]

its doesnt matter about pace a madbob said he was a great swinger of the ball and was one of the best all-rounders in the world at one time. and he was a great batsmen to.

[Mikeya85]

yep, just look at glenn mcgrath,shawn pollock etc, not particularly quick now,they have about 900 odd wickets between them. even stuart clark's not that quick, highly accurate though.

[class66]

thats wot they said about that honky Warne when he was the leading wicket taker!

[mcs1hr]

@eyesonthetube - You're right, 1986 was when Botham really started to bowl medium pace only, his pace was reduced again after the back op in 1988. But while never express-fast like the great West Indians, Botham certainly bowled quick. For me his bowling peak came in 1984 v West Indies. Whether quick, fast-medium or military medium, IT Botham was an outstanding bowler for England and his figures speak for themselves. Since he retired, no one has come close to eclipsing his titanic bowling feats

[HeartfeltDawn]

@mcs1hr Agreed and the stats bear this out. At the end of the 1985 Ashes, Botham had 343 Test wickets in 79 Tests. In the last 23 Tests of his career after that, he took 40 wickets at 45 and contributed a fairly poor average of 23.96 with the bat in this time. Undoubtedly he played far too long, probably a combination of stubborn self-belief and a lack of decent all-rounders to take his place.