View source for Ian Botham

{{Short description|English cricketer (born 1955)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix    = [[Baron#Style of address|The Right Honourable]]
| name                = The Lord Botham
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}}
| image               = Ian Botham headshot.jpg
| caption             = Botham in 2013
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|df=y|1955|11|24}}
| birth_place         = [[Heswall]], England
| office              = [[Member of the House of Lords]]<br/>[[Lord Temporal]]
| term_start          = 5 October 2020<br/>[[Life peer]]age
| module              = {{Infobox cricketer | embed = yes
  | country = England
  | fullname = Ian Terence Botham
  | nickname = Both, Beefy, Guy<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9163.html |title=Ian Botham |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=18 April 2012 |archive-date=20 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131220074921/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9163.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
  | height = 6ft 2 in
  | role = [[All-rounder]]
  | batting = Right-handed
  | bowling = Right-arm [[Fast bowling|fast-medium]]
  | international = true
  | internationalspan = 1976–1992
  | testdebutdate = 28 July
  | testdebutyear = 1977
  | testdebutagainst = Australia
  | testcap = 474
  | lasttestdate = 18 June
  | lasttestyear = 1992
  | lasttestagainst = Pakistan
  | odidebutdate = 26 August
  | odidebutyear = 1976
  | odidebutagainst = West Indies
  | odicap = 33
  | lastodidate = 24 August
  | lastodiyear = 1992
  | lastodiagainst = Pakistan
  | club1 = [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]]
  | year1 = {{nowrap|1974–1986}}
  | club2 = [[Queensland Bulls|Queensland]]
  | year2 = 1987/88
  | club3 = [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]]
  | year3 = 1987–1991
  | club4 = [[Durham County Cricket Club|Durham]]
  | year4 = 1992–1993
  | columns = 4
  | column1 = [[Test cricket|Tests]]
  | matches1 = 102
  | runs1 = 5,200
  | bat avg1 = 33.54
  | 100s/50s1 = 14/22
  | top score1 = 208
  | deliveries1 = 21,815
  | wickets1 = 383
  | bowl avg1 = 28.40
  | fivefor1 = 27
  | tenfor1 = 4
  | best bowling1 = 8/34
  | catches/stumpings1 = 120/–
  | column2 = [[One Day International|ODI]]
  | matches2 = 116
  | runs2 = 2,113
  | bat avg2 = 23.21
  | 100s/50s2 = 0/9
  | top score2 = 79
  | deliveries2 = 6,271
  | wickets2 = 145
  | bowl avg2 = 28.54
  | fivefor2 = 0
  | tenfor2 = 0
  | best bowling2 = 4/31
  | catches/stumpings2 = 36/–
  | column3 = [[First-class cricket|FC]]
  | matches3 = 402
  | runs3 = 19,399
  | bat avg3 = 33.97
  | 100s/50s3 = 38/97
  | top score3 = 228
  | deliveries3 = 63,547
  | wickets3 = 1,172
  | bowl avg3 = 27.22
  | fivefor3 = 59
  | tenfor3 = 8
  | best bowling3 = 8/34
  | catches/stumpings3 = 354/–
  | column4 = [[List A cricket|LA]]
  | matches4 = 470
  | runs4 = 10,474
  | bat avg4 = 29.50
  | 100s/50s4 = 7/46
  | top score4 = 175[[not out|*]]
  | deliveries4 = 22,899
  | wickets4 = 612
  | bowl avg4 = 24.94
  | fivefor4 = 3
  | tenfor4 = 0
  | best bowling4 = 5/27
  | catches/stumpings4 = 196/–
| medaltemplates =  <!-- Mention Host Names for Team Sports-->
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Cricket]]}}
{{MedalCountry|{{cr|ENG}}}} 
{{MedalCompetition|[[ICC Cricket World Cup]]}}
{{Medal|RU|[[1979 Cricket World Cup|1979 England]]|}}
{{Medal|RU|[[1992 Cricket World Cup|1992 Australia and New Zealand]]|}}
  | date = 22 August
  | year = 2007
  | source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/1529.html CricketArchive
  }}
| module2             = {{Infobox football biography |embed = yes
  | position = [[Centre half]]
  | youthyears1 = 
  | youthclubs1 = 
  | years1 = 1978–1980
  | years2 = 1980–1985
  | clubs1 = [[Yeovil Town F.C.|Yeovil Town]]
  | clubs2 = [[Scunthorpe United F.C.|Scunthorpe United]]
  | caps1 = 17 | goals1 = 1
  | caps2 = 11 | goals2 = 0
  }}
}}
'''Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham''' (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former [[cricket]]er who has been chairman of [[Durham County Cricket Club]] since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of the greatest [[all-rounder]]s in the history of the game,<ref>{{cite web |last=Bermange |first=Benedict |title=100 Greatest Cricketers: Sir Ian Botham included in players 20–11 |url=http://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/14265/10668803/100-greatest-cricketers-sir-ian-botham-included-in-players-20-11 |url-status=live |publisher=[[Sky Sports]] |date=30 November 2016 |access-date=28 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190218081911/https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/14265/10668803/100-greatest-cricketers-sir-ian-botham-included-in-players-20-11 |archive-date=18 February 2019}}</ref> Botham represented [[England cricket team|England]] in both Test and One-Day International cricket. He was a part of the English squads which finished as [[1979 Cricket World Cup final|runners-up]] at the [[1979 Cricket World Cup]] and as [[1992 Cricket World Cup final|runners-up]] at the [[1992 Cricket World Cup]].

Botham played most of his first-class cricket for [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]], at other times competing for [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]], [[Durham County Cricket Club|Durham]] and [[Queensland cricket team|Queensland]]. He was an aggressive right-handed batsman and, as a right-arm [[fast bowling|fast-medium bowler]], was noted for his [[swing bowling]]. He generally [[Fielding (cricket)|fielded]] close to the [[wicket]], predominantly [[Slip (cricket)|in the slips]]. In Test cricket, Botham scored 14 [[Century (cricket)|centuries]] with a highest score of 208, and from 1986 to 1988 held the world record for the most Test wickets until overtaken by fellow all-rounder Sir [[Richard Hadlee]]. He took [[five wickets in an innings]] 27 times, and [[10 wickets in a match]] four times. In 1980, he became the second player in Test history to complete the "match double" of scoring 100 runs and taking 10 wickets in the same match. On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/790131|title=England's greatest Test XI revealed|date=30 July 2018|publisher=ICC|access-date=26 July 2009|archive-date=26 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726130545/https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/790131|url-status=live}}</ref>

Botham has at times been involved in controversies, including a highly publicised court case involving rival all-rounder [[Imran Khan]] and an ongoing dispute with the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] (RSPB). These incidents, allied to his on-field success, have attracted media attention, especially from the tabloid press. Botham has used his fame to raise money for research into [[childhood leukaemia]]. These efforts have realised millions of [[Pound sterling|pounds]] for [[Bloodwise]], of which he became president.<ref>{{cite web |title=Blood Cancer UK {{!}} Beefy's Foundation |url=https://www.beefysfoundation.org/blood-cancer-uk.php |website=www.beefysfoundation.org |access-date=13 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ian Botham: Charity Work & Causes |url=https://www.looktothestars.org/celebrity/ian-botham |website=Look to the Stars |access-date=13 July 2021}}</ref> On 8 August 2009, he was inducted into the [[ICC Cricket Hall of Fame]]. In July 2020, it was announced that Botham would be elevated to the [[House of Lords]] and that he would sit as a [[crossbench peer]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Botham and PM's brother to join House of Lords |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53606083 |url-status=live |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=31 July 2020 |access-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801004617/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-53606083 |archive-date=1 August 2020}}</ref>

Botham has a wide range of sporting interests outside cricket. He was a talented [[Association football|footballer]] at school and had to choose between cricket and football as a career. He chose cricket but, even so, he played professional football for a few seasons and made eleven appearances in [[the Football League]] for [[Scunthorpe United F.C.|Scunthorpe United]], becoming the club's president in 2017.<ref>{{cite news |title=Botham named Scunthorpe club president |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42355484 |publisher=[[BBC Sport]] |language=en-GB |access-date=13 July 2021}}</ref> He is a keen [[golf]]er, and his other pastimes include [[angling]] and shooting. He has been awarded both a knighthood and a life peerage.

==Early life and development as a cricketer (1955–1973)==
Ian Botham was born in [[Heswall]], Cheshire, to Herbert Leslie ("Les") Botham and Violet Marie, née Collett.<ref name="doust33">Doust (1981), p. 33.</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Barratt |first=Nick |title=Family detective: Sir Ian Botham |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/education/2007/12/15/fadet115.xml |url-status=live |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=UK |date=15 December 2007 |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220224103/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=%2Feducation%2F2007%2F12%2F15%2Ffadet115.xml |archive-date=20 December 2007}}</ref> His father had been in the [[Fleet Air Arm]] for twenty years spanning the [[Second World War]]; his mother was a nurse. The family moved to [[Yeovil]] before Botham's third birthday after his father got a job as a test engineer at [[Westland Helicopters]].<ref name="doust33"/><ref name=WCY78/> Both his parents played cricket: his father for Westland Sports Club while his mother captained a nursing services team at [[Sherborne]].<ref>Farmer (1979), p. 52.</ref> Botham developed an eagerness for the game before he had started school: he would climb through the fence of the Yeovil Boys' Grammar School to watch the pupils play cricket. At the age of around four, he came home with a cricket ball and asked his mother "Do you know how to hold a ball when you're going to bowl a daisy-cutter?" He subsequently demonstrated the grip and went away to practise bowling it.<ref>Murphy (1988), p. 12.</ref>

Botham attended Milford Junior School in the town, and his "love affair" with sport began there. He played both cricket and football for the school's teams at the age of nine, two years earlier than most of his contemporaries.<ref>Doust (1981), p. 34.</ref><ref name="botham 36-37">{{cite book |last=Botham |first=Ian |chapter=A Bouncing Baby Botham |title=Botham: My Autobiography |publisher=CollinsWillow |year=1994 |pages=36–37 |isbn=0-00-218316-1}}</ref> Playing against the older boys forced Botham to learn to hit the ball hard, and improve to their standard. At the same age he went to matches with his father, who played for Westland Sports Club, and if one of the teams was short, he would try to get a match. His father recalled that though he never got to bowl, and rarely got to bat, he received praise for the standard of his fielding.<ref>Murphy (1988), pp. 12–14.</ref> He joined the [[Boys' Brigade]] where more sporting opportunities were available.<ref name=WCY78/> By the time he was nine, he had begun to "haunt" local recreation grounds with his kit always ready, looking to play for any team that was short of players.<ref name=WCY78/> By the age of twelve he was playing occasional matches for Yeovil Cricket Club's second team.<ref>Murphy (1988), p. 15.</ref>

Botham went on to [[Bucklers Mead Community School|Bucklers Mead Comprehensive School]] in Yeovil, where he continued to do well in sport and played for the school's cricket and football teams. He became captain of their under-16 cricket team when he was thirteen. His performances for the school drew the attention of [[Somerset County Cricket Club]]'s youth coach [[Bill Andrews (cricketer)|Bill Andrews]]. Still thirteen, he scored 80 runs on debut for Somerset's under-15s side against Wiltshire, but the team captain [[Phil Slocombe]] did not call on him to bowl as he considered him to be a specialist batsman.<ref>Doust (1981), pp. 36–37.</ref> Two years later, Botham had the opportunity to choose between football and cricket: [[Bert Head]], manager of [[Crystal Palace F.C.|Crystal Palace]] offered him apprentice forms with the [[Football League First Division|First Division]] club.<ref>Doust (1981), pp. 38–39.</ref> He already had a contract with Somerset and, after discussing the offer with his father, decided to continue to pursue a cricket career, as he believed he was a better cricketer.<ref>Murphy (1988), pp. 16–17.</ref> When informed that he wanted to be a sportsman, Botham's careers teacher said to him: "Fine, everyone wants to play sport, but what are you really going to do?"<ref name=TC>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkcricket.co.uk/guides/cricket_legends_sir_ian_botham.html |title=Talk Cricket |publisher=Fubra Limited |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=27 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170527145218/http://www.talkcricket.co.uk/guides/cricket_legends_sir_ian_botham.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Lord's Pavilion.jpg|thumb|right|The pavilion at [[Lord's Cricket Ground]], where Botham served as a ground boy in 1972 and 1973]]
In 1972, at the age of 16, Botham left school intent on playing cricket for Somerset, who retained his contract but felt he was too young to justify a full professional deal.<ref>Murphy (1988), pp. 18–19.</ref> So, Botham joined the ground staff at [[Lord's Cricket Ground|Lord's]].<ref>Doust (1981), p. 39.</ref> As a ground boy, he had numerous tasks such as "cleaning the pavilion windows, pushing the roller on matchdays, selling scorecards, pressing electronic buttons on the scoreboards and rushing bowling analyses to the dressing-room".<ref>Murphy (1988), pp. 22–23.</ref> He also received coaching and plenty of time in the practice nets, and was often the first to arrive and the last to leave practice.<ref>Murphy (1988), p. 22.</ref> Despite his time in the nets, Botham was only considered by [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC) coach [[Harry Sharp (cricketer)|Harry Sharp]] to have the potential to become a "good, average county cricketer."<ref name="doust41">Doust (1981), p. 41.</ref> Botham travelled to play for Somerset under-25s a number of times during the season, but failed to excel in any of the matches. His appearances for the MCC were of a similar vein: he rarely scored more than 50 runs, and was used sparingly as a bowler.<ref name="doust41"/> In one such match against "Scotland A", the MCC Young Cricketers used eight bowlers in their second innings, but Botham was not among them.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/32/32705.html |title=Marylebone Cricket Club Young Cricketers v Scotland A: Scotland A in England 1972 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=25 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525231115/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/32/32705.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The following year, still a ground boy at Lord's, Botham was asked to return to play for Somerset's under-25s more often. Against [[Glamorgan County Cricket Club|Glamorgan U-25]], he scored 91 runs and took three [[Batting order (cricket)#Lower order or tail|tail-end]] wickets,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33368.html |title=Somerset Under-25s v Glamorgan Under-25s: Under-25 County Cricket Competition 1973 (Western Zone) |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=1 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151001143922/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33368.html |url-status=live}}</ref> while just under a month later he claimed a further three wickets against Hampshire.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33526.html |title=Somerset Under-25s v Hampshire Under-25s: Under-25 County Cricket Competition 1973 (Western Zone) |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=9 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109155205/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33526.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He advanced to play for the county's second team in the [[Minor Counties Cricket Championship|Minor Counties Championship]], and although he was still used sparingly as a bowler, he made some good scores with the bat, most significantly against [[Cornwall County Cricket Club|Cornwall]], against whom he aggregated 194 runs in four innings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/93/93607.html |title=Cornwall v Somerset Second XI: Minor Counties Championship 1973 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=26 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150526020933/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/93/93607.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/93/93667.html |title=Somerset Second XI v Cornwall: Minor Counties Championship 1973 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=19 February 2012 |archive-date=12 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012173038/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/93/93667.html |url-status=live}}</ref> During winter nets prior to the season, Botham had caught the eye of the former [[England cricket team|England]] Test cricketer [[Tom Cartwright]], who coached at [[Millfield School]] in addition to playing for Somerset. Cartwright was impressed with Botham's foot-work and physical co-ordination, and helped him learn the basics of [[swing bowling]], something Botham picked up "astonishingly quickly" according to Cartwright.<ref>Murphy (1988), p. 24.</ref>

==Cricket career (1973–1993)==
===Somerset (1973–1975)===
Botham had done well for the Second XI and he later acknowledged the help and advice he received from Somerset players [[Peter Robinson (cricketer, born 1943)|Peter Robinson]], [[Graham Burgess (cricketer)|Graham Burgess]] and [[Ken Palmer]].<ref name=WCY78/> Botham made his senior debut, aged 17, for [[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]] on Sunday, 2 September 1973 when he played in a [[List A cricket|List A]] [[Pro40|John Player League]] (JPL) match (38 [[over (cricket)|overs]] each) against [[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]] at the [[County Cricket Ground, Hove|County Ground, Hove]].<ref>Murphy (1988) p. 24.</ref> The match was in the same week that his time on the Lord's ground staff was completed.<ref>Doust (1981), p. 42.</ref> Somerset batted first, and Botham, number seven in the batting order, scored two [[run (cricket)|runs]] before he was [[dismissal (cricket)|dismissed]] [[leg before wicket]] (lbw) by [[Mike Buss]]. Somerset totalled 139 for 9. Sussex won comfortably by six [[wicket]]s, reaching 141 for four with fifteen [[delivery (cricket)|deliveries]] remaining. Botham [[bowling (cricket)|bowled]] three overs without success, conceding 22 runs. He did impress, however, by taking a diving [[caught|catch]] to dismiss his future [[England cricket team|England]] colleague [[Tony Greig]] off the bowling of his captain [[Brian Close]].<ref>Murphy (1988), pp. 24–25.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33763.html |title=Sussex v Somerset (JPL), 1973 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=3 May 2017 |archive-date=3 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180103072611/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33763.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

A week later, Botham made a second appearance in the JPL against [[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]] at [[The Oval]] in the final match of the season. Somerset were well beaten by 68 runs. Botham had his first bowling success when he dismissed [[Geoff Howarth]] lbw.<ref>Farmer (1979), pp. 53–54.</ref> He bowled four overs and took one for 14. As in his first match, he scored two batting at number seven, this time being caught and bowled by [[Intikhab Alam]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33781.html |title=Surrey v Somerset (JPL), 1973 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=3 May 2017 |archive-date=26 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926112928/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33781.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These were his only two senior appearances in 1973, Somerset finishing 11th in the JPL. In summary, Botham scored four runs, took one wicket for 14 and held one catch.<ref name=CAbatLA>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/a_Batting_by_Season.html |title=List A Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=4 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201104183108/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/a_Batting_by_Season.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=CAballLA>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/a_Bowling_by_Season.html |title=List A Bowling in Each Season by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306144859/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/a_Bowling_by_Season.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Aged 18, Botham was a regular in the Somerset team from the beginning of the 1974 season and made his [[first-class cricket|first-class début]] 8–10 May in a [[County Championship]] match against [[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]] at the [[County Cricket Ground, Taunton|County Ground, Taunton]]. [[Viv Richards]], from [[Antigua and Barbuda]], made his County Championship début for Somerset in the same match and Lancashire's team included [[Clive Lloyd]], two players who would loom large in Botham's future Test career. Brian Close won the toss and decided to bat first. On day one, Somerset were all out for 285 and Lancashire reached 41 for none. Botham batted at number seven and scored 13 before being [[caught]]. Day two was rain-affected and Lancashire advanced to 200 for none. Their innings closed on the final day at 381 for eight. Botham bowled only three overs and his figures were none for 15; he held one catch to dismiss [[Jack Simmons (cricketer)|Jack Simmons]]. Somerset played for the draw and were 104 for two at the end. Botham did not bat again.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34122.html |title=Somerset v Lancashire (CC), 1974 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=3 May 2017 |archive-date=2 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402173635/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34122.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 12 June 1974, he played against [[Hampshire County Cricket Club|Hampshire]] at Taunton in a [[Benson & Hedges Cup]] (B&H Cup) quarter-final. Hampshire won the toss and decided to bat. They scored 182 all out with Botham taking two for 33 including the prize wicket of [[Barry Richards]], bowled for 13. Botham was number nine in Somerset's batting order and came in with his team struggling at 113 for 7. Almost immediately, that became 113 for 8 and he had only the [[tailender]]s [[Hallam Moseley]] and [[Bob Clapp]] to support him. He was facing the [[West Indies cricket team|West Indian]] [[fast bowling|fast bowler]] [[Andy Roberts (cricketer)|Andy Roberts]] who delivered a [[bouncer (cricket)|bouncer]] which hit him in the mouth. Despite heavy bleeding and the eventual loss of four teeth, Botham refused to leave the field and carried on batting. He hit two sixes and made 45[[not out|*]], enabling Somerset to win by one wicket.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34289.html |title=Somerset v Hampshire (B&H Q/F), 1974 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=3 May 2017 |archive-date=12 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412181907/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34289.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He won the [[man of the match|Gold Award]]. Later, he said he should have left the field but was full of praise for Moseley and Clapp.<ref name=WCY78/>

In a County Championship match on 13 July 1974, Botham scored his first half-century in first-class cricket. He made 59 in Somerset's first innings against [[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]] at Taunton, the highest individual score in a low-scoring match which Somerset won by 73 runs. Middlesex's captain was [[Mike Brearley]], who would become a very influential figure in Botham's career.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34447.html |title=Somerset v Middlesex (CC), 1974 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=2 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102082933/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34447.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A month later, in a match against [[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]] at [[Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare]], Botham achieved his first-ever five wickets in an innings (5wI) with five for 59. He took seven in the match which Somerset won by 179 runs, largely thanks to Close who scored 59 and 114*.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34609.html |title=Somerset v Leicestershire (CC), 1974 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=25 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325072703/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/34/34609.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham showed great promise in 1974, his first full season in which Somerset finished fifth in the County Championship and a close second to Leicestershire in the JPL. They also reached the semi-finals in both the [[Friends Provident Trophy|Gillette Cup]] and the B&H Cup. In 18 first-class appearances, Botham scored 441 runs with a highest of 59, took 30 first-class wickets with a best of five for 59 and held 15 catches.<ref name=CAbatFC>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/f_Batting_by_Season.html |title=First-class Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101214406/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/f_Batting_by_Season.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=CAballFC>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/f_Bowling_by_Season.html |title=First-class Bowling in Each Season by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305152214/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/f_Bowling_by_Season.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He played in 18 List A matches too, scoring 222 runs with a highest of 45[[not out|*]] (his Gold Award innings against Hampshire), took 12 wickets with a best of two for 16 and held four catches.<ref name=CAbatLA/><ref name=CAballLA/>

Botham continued to make progress in 1975. Somerset struggled in the County Championship, winning only four of their twenty matches and finished joint 12th. In the JPL, they slumped badly from second to 14th. They reached the quarter-final of the B&H Cup but only the second round of the Gillette Cup. Botham played in 22 first-class and 23 List A matches so it was a busy season for him. In first-class, he scored 584 runs with a highest of 65, one of two half-centuries, and held 18 catches. He took 62 wickets, doubling his 1974 tally, with a best of five for 69, his only 5wI that season.<ref name=CAbatFC/><ref name=CAballFC/> In List A, he scored 232 runs with a highest of 38* and held seven catches. He took 32 wickets with a best of three for 34.<ref name=CAbatLA/><ref name=CAballLA/>

===Somerset and England (1976)===
1976 was a significant season for Botham as he scored over 1,000 runs for the first time, completed his first [[century (cricket)|century]] and earned international selection by [[England cricket team|England]] in two [[Limited Overs International]]s. Somerset improved in the County Championship to finish seventh, winning seven matches. They were one of five teams tied for first place in the JPL but their run rate was less than that of [[Kent County Cricket Club|Kent]], who were declared the champions. Somerset lost their opening match in the Gillette Cup and were eliminated at the group stage of the B&H Cup. Botham, though, came on in leaps and bounds. He totalled 1,022 first-class runs in 20 matches with a highest of 167*, his first-ever century and he also scored six half-centuries.<ref name=CAbatFC/> With the ball, he took 66 wickets with a best of six for 16. He had four 5wI and, for the first time, ten wickets in a match (10wM).<ref name=CAballFC/> He played in a total of 22 List A matches, including the two for England, scoring 395 runs with a highest of 46.<ref name=CAbatLA/> He took 33 wickets with a best of four for 41.<ref name=CAballLA/>

In the County Championship match against Sussex at Hove in May, Botham came very close to his maiden century but was dismissed for 97, his highest score to date. The match was drawn.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36053.html |title=Sussex v Somerset (CC), 1976 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201010045/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36053.html |url-status=live }}</ref> At the end of the month, Somerset played [[Gloucestershire County Cricket Club|Gloucestershire]] in a remarkable match at Taunton. Batting first, Somerset scored 333 for seven (innings closed) and then, thanks to six for 25 by Botham, bowled out Gloucestershire for only 79. The follow-on was enforced but Gloucestershire proved a much tougher nut to crack second time around. With [[Zaheer Abbas]] scoring 141, they made 372 and left Somerset needing 118 to win. Botham took five for 125 in the second innings for a match analysis of 11 for 150, his maiden 10wM. This match ended the same way as the famous Test at Headingley in 1981 but the boot was on the other foot for Botham here because he was on the team that enforced the follow-on – and lost. [[Mike Procter]] and [[Tony Brown (English cricketer)|Tony Brown]] did the damage and bowled Somerset out for 110 in 42 overs, Gloucestershire winning by just eight runs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36135.html |title=Somerset v Gloucestershire (CC), 1976 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=17 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417192108/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36135.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham scored his maiden first-class century at [[Trent Bridge]] on Tuesday 3 August 1976 in the County Championship game against [[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]] (Notts) who won the toss and decided to bat first. [[Derek Randall]] scored 204* and the Notts innings closed at 364 for 4 (Botham one for 59). Somerset were 52 for one at close of play. On day two, Somerset scored 304 for 8 (innings closed) and Botham, batting at number six, scored 80. At close of play, Notts in their second innings were 107 for four, thus extending their lead to 167 with six wickets standing. On day three, Notts advanced to 240 for nine declared (Botham one for 16), leaving Somerset with a difficult target of 301. At 40 for two and with both their openers gone, Brian Close changed his batting order and summoned Botham to come in at number four. Close himself had gone in at three but he was out soon afterwards for 35. With support from Graham Burgess (78), Botham laid into the Notts bowling and scored an impressive 167 not out. Somerset reached 302 for four in only 65 overs and won by six wickets.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36135.html |title=Nottinghamshire v Somerset (CC), 1976 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=17 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180417192108/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36135.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham's international début for [[England cricket team|England]] was on 26 August 1976 in a [[Limited Overs International]] (LOI) against the [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies]] at the [[North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough]]. The series was called the Prudential Trophy and the teams had 55 overs each per innings. Botham, still only 20, was the youngest player. At Scarborough, England captain [[Alan Knott]] lost the toss and Clive Lloyd, captaining the West Indies, elected to field first. Botham was number seven in the batting order and came in at 136 for five to join [[Graham Barlow]]. He scored only one before he was caught by [[Roy Fredericks]] off the bowling of his future ''[[Sky Sports]]'' colleague [[Michael Holding]]. England's innings closed at 202 for eight with Barlow 80 not out. West Indies lost Fredericks almost immediately but that brought Viv Richards to the crease and he hit 119 not out, winning the man of the match award, and leading West Indies to victory in only 41 overs by six wickets. Botham had the consolation of taking his first international wicket when he had [[Lawrence Rowe]] caught by [[Mike Hendrick]] for 10. He bowled only three overs and took some punishment from Richards, his return being one for 26.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36537.html |title=England v West Indies (1st LOI), 1976 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=15 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180315200152/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36537.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the second match at [[Lord's]], Botham was replaced by returning England captain Tony Greig. England lost by 36 runs as Richards, this time with 97, was again the difference between the teams. Having lost the series, England recalled Botham for the final match at [[Edgbaston Cricket Ground|Edgbaston]] on 30–31 August. The match was extended to two days and overs reduced to 32 per side. Tony Greig won the toss and decided to field. England began well and dismissed Fredericks and Richards, for a duck, in only the second over. West Indies were then seven for one but a powerful innings by Clive Lloyd pulled them out of trouble and they reached 223 for nine, innings closed. Botham bowled three very expensive overs, conceding 31 runs, but he did manage to bowl out Michael Holding for his second international wicket. England were never in the hunt and were bowled out for 173, West Indies winning by 50 runs and claiming the series 3–0. Botham again batted at number seven and made a good start, scoring 20 at a run a ball, but he was then caught by [[Bernard Julien]] off Fredericks and England were 151 for seven with only Knott and the tailenders left.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36556.html |title=England v West Indies (1st LOI), 1976 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=16 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316023029/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/36/36556.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===District cricket in Australia (1976–77)===
In the winter of 1976–77, after he had made his first two international appearances, Botham played [[Victorian Premier Cricket|District Cricket]] in Melbourne, Australia for the [[University of Melbourne Cricket Club]]. He was joined by Yorkshire's [[Graham Stevenson]]. They were signed for the second half of the season on a sponsorship arranged through the [[Test and County Cricket Board]] (TCCB) by [[Whitbread|Whitbread's Brewery]]. Five of the competition's 15 rounds were abandoned because of adverse weather.<ref>Doust (1981), p. 50.</ref> It was apparently on this trip that Botham originally fell out with the former [[Australia national cricket team|Australian]] captain [[Ian Chappell]]. The cause seems to have been a cricket-related argument in a bar, which may have resulted in Chappell being pushed off his stool (the story is widely sourced but accounts differ). This became a long-running feud and, as late as the [[2010–11 Ashes series]], there was an altercation between Botham and Chappell in a car park at the [[Adelaide Oval]].<ref>{{cite news |date=7 December 2010 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/theashes/8185931/The-Ashes-2010-Sir-Ian-Botham-and-Ian-Chappell-clash-in-Adelaide-car-park.html |title=The Ashes 2010: Sir Ian Botham and Ian Chappell clash in Adelaide car park |work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=7 December 2010 |location=London |archive-date=9 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209034431/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/theashes/8185931/The-Ashes-2010-Sir-Ian-Botham-and-Ian-Chappell-clash-in-Adelaide-car-park.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/current/story/321663.html |title=Botham v Chappell: time for a drink |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |last=Mitchell |first=Kevin |date=December 2007 |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-date=8 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708045001/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/current/story/321663.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Somerset and England (1977)===
Botham produced a number of good batting and bowling performances for Somerset in 1977 and these impressed the [[Test cricket|Test]] selectors who included him in the team for the third Test against [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] at [[Trent Bridge]], starting on 28 July. Having captured 36 first-class wickets through May and June, Botham had something of a purple patch in July which earned him his Test call-up. In the match against Sussex at Hove, which Somerset won by an innings and 37 runs, he took four for 111 and six for 50 for his second 10wM. In Somerset's innings of 448 for eight, he shared a 4th wicket partnership of 174 with Viv Richards. Botham scored 62, Richards 204.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37236.html |title=Sussex v Somerset (CC), 1977 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305065519/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37236.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He took 22 more wickets, including two 5wI, in the next three County Championship games before his Test debut. In the whole season, playing 17 first-class matches, he took 88 wickets with six 5wI and one 10wM, his second innings return at Hove being his best.<ref name=CAballFC/> His batting was not quite as good as in 1976 as his average was down but he scored 738 runs with a highest of 114, which was his sole century, and five half-centuries.<ref name=CAbatFC/> He scored the century in July against Hampshire at Taunton, 114 in Somerset's first innings of 284, and followed it with bowling returns of four for 69 and four for 43, another impressive all-round effort which earned Somerset a win by 152 runs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37254.html |title=Somerset v Hampshire (CC), 1977 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=2 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402135941/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37254.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Somerset had a good season in the County Championship, finishing fourth. They reached the semi-final of the Gillette Cup but, without the injured Botham, were well beaten by eventual winners Middlesex. They were a poor tenth in the JPL and were eliminated from the B&H Cup at the group stage.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Botham made his Test début at [[Trent Bridge]] on 28 July 1977 in the third Test against [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]]. His début was somewhat overshadowed by the return from self-imposed Test exile of [[Geoffrey Boycott]]. England went into the match with a 1–0 series lead having won the second Test after the first had been drawn. The series was played against the background of the so-called "[[Kerry Packer|Packer Affair]]" which resulted in the establishment of [[World Series Cricket]] in the next Australian season. Because of Tony Greig's involvement, he had been stripped of the England captaincy but remained in the team under new captain [[Mike Brearley]]. England had three all-rounders at Trent Bridge with Greig, [[Geoff Miller]] and Botham all playing. Australian captain [[Greg Chappell]] won the toss and decided to bat first. Australia scored 243 and were all out shortly before the close on day one. Botham, aged 21, made an immediate impact and took five for 74, the highlight being the dismissal of Chappell, his first test match wicket, bowled for just 19. England batted all through day two and into day three as Boycott, in his first Test innings since 1974, and Knott both made centuries. Botham came in at number eight on day three and scored 25 before he was bowled by [[Max Walker]]. England were all out not long afterwards for 364, a first innings lead of 121. Botham had no joy in Australia's second innings with none for 60. A century by [[Rick McCosker]] enabled Australia to score 309 before they were all out in the evening session on day four. [[Bob Willis]] took five for 88. England needed 189 to win and completed the job, by seven wickets, well into the final day with Brearley scoring 81 and Boycott, who batted on all five days, 80 not out. Botham didn't get a second innings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37378.html |title=England v Australia, 3rd Test, 1977 |access-date=6 May 2017 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |archive-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822180343/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37378.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Botham's impressive bowling at Trent Bridge meant he was an automatic choice for the fourth Test at [[Headingley Cricket Ground|Headingley]] two weeks later. England won the toss, decided to bat first and went on to win by an innings and 85 runs to secure a winning 3–0 lead in the series and regain [[The Ashes]], which they had lost in 1974–75. The match is famous for Boycott's one hundredth career century, scored on his home county ground and in his second Test since his return to the England fold. Botham was bowled third ball by [[Ray Bright]] without scoring. He made amends with the ball by taking five for 21 in only eleven overs, Australia being bowled out for only 103. The [[follow-on]] was enforced and Australia this time made 248, but Botham (none for 47) did not take a wicket.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37445.html |title=England v Australia, 4th Test, 1977 |access-date=7 May 2017 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |archive-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822174219/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37445.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was injured during the second innings when he accidentally trod on the ball and broke a bone in his foot. He was unable to play again in the 1977 season.<ref name=WCY78/>

His promising start as Test player resulted in two awards. He was named [[Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year|Young Cricketer of the Year]] for 1977 by the Cricket Writers' Club;<ref>{{cite book |last=Playfair |title=Playfair Cricket Annual (70th edition) |edition=2017 |publisher=Headline |location=London |page=225}}</ref> and was selected as one of the ''[[Wisden Cricketers of the Year]]'' (i.e., for 1977 but announced in the 1978 edition). ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'' commented that his 1977 season "was marred only by a week's cricket idleness carrying the drinks at the Prudential matches, and a foot injury which ruined for him the end of the season and probably robbed him of a rare double. He finished with 88 wickets and 738 runs".<ref name=WCY78/> Importantly, the foot injury was a broken toe sustained when he trod on the ball at Headingley and Botham subsequently needed treatment for it at his local hospital in Taunton. It was while going to one of his appointments that he took a wrong turn and ended up on a children's ward where he learned that some of the children were dying of [[leukaemia]]. This incident sparked his charitable crusade on behalf of [[Bloodwise|leukaemia research]].<ref name=BBCnews>{{cite news |last=Brett |first=Oliver |title=A lionheart on and off the pitch |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/6757911.stm |url-status=live |publisher=BBC Sport |date=15 June 2007 |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115154137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/6757911.stm |archive-date=15 November 2009}}</ref>

===Somerset and England (1977–78 to 1979–80)===
{{BLP sources section|date=February 2019}}
[[File:Ian_Botham_batting_vs_NZ_-_February_1978.jpg|thumb|Ian Botham vs NZ, [[Basin Reserve]] February 1978]]
England were in Pakistan from November 1977 to January 1978, playing three Tests and three LOIs. Botham was almost fully recovered from his foot injury but did not play in any of the Tests. He took part in all three LOIs and in some of the first-class matches against club teams. From January to March, England were in New Zealand for a three-match Test series under the captaincy of Geoff Boycott. Botham impressed in a first-class match against [[Canterbury cricket team|Canterbury]] at [[Lancaster Park]], scoring 126 not out in the second innings against an attack including [[Richard Hadlee]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37821.html |title=Canterbury v England XI, 1977–78 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=16 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160316022725/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37821.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and was selected for the first Test at [[Basin Reserve]]. Botham had an indifferent game there and England, twice bowled out by Hadlee, lost by 72 runs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37839.html |title=New Zealand v England, First Test, 1977–78 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=8 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408184517/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37839.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the next match at [[Carisbrook]] against [[Otago cricket team|Otago]], Botham achieved a 10wM with seven for 58 (his career best return to date) in the second innings, enabling the England XI to win by six wickets.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37859.html |title=Otago v England XI, 1977–78 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=13 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151013013508/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37859.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

England won the second Test at Lancaster Park by 174 runs after an outstanding all-round performance by Botham who scored 103 and 30 not out and took five for 73 and three for 38. He also held three catches.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37876.html |title=New Zealand v England, Second Test, 1977–78 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=14 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214160917/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37876.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the second innings, promoted up the order to get quick runs before an overnight declaration, he was responsible for calling for a risky run that led to the run-out dismissal of acting-captain Geoff Boycott: Botham's own published autobiography alleges that this was deliberately done, on the orders of acting vice-captain Bob Willis, because Boycott was scoring too slowly.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/604169.html |title=Rewind to 1978: Botham to Boycott, "I've run you out, you ****" |publisher=ESPNCricInfo Magazine |access-date=27 August 2019 |archive-date=27 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190827013612/http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/604169.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The final Test was played at [[Eden Park]] and was drawn, the series ending 1–1. New Zealand batted first and totalled 315 with Geoff Howarth scoring 122. Botham took five for 109 in 34 overs. England replied with 429 all out ([[Clive Radley]] 158, Botham 53). New Zealand then chose to bat out time and Howarth scored his second century of the match (Botham none for 51).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37894.html |title=New Zealand v England, Third Test, 1977–78 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201061435/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37894.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Botham's form in New Zealand cemented his place in the England team.
[[File:Ian_Botham_batting_vs_NZ.jpg|thumb|Ian Botham vs NZ, [[Basin Reserve]] February 1978]]
In the 1978 English season, Pakistan and New Zealand both visited to play three Tests each and Botham featured in all six matches. Having scored exactly 100 in the first Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston, England winning by an innings and 57 runs, Botham in the second at Lord's scored 108 and then, after none for 17 in the first innings, achieved his Test and first-class career best return of eight for 34 in the second, England winning by an innings and 120 runs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38175.html |title=England v Pakistan, Second Test, 1978 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=22 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180322021145/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38175.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The third Test was ruined by the weather and England won the series 2–0. Against New Zealand, Botham did little with the bat but his bowling was outstanding. In the second Test he took nine wickets in the match as England won by an innings and then a 10wM in the final match at Lord's with six for 101 and five for 39.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38522.html |title=England v New Zealand, Third Test, 1978 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=28 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228195504/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38522.html |url-status=live }}</ref> England won the series 3–0.

Due to his England commitments, Botham appeared infrequently for Somerset in 1978. His best performances for them were a return of seven for 61 against Glamorgan and an innings of 80 against Sussex in the Gillette Cup final at Lord's. This was Somerset's first limited overs final and they lost by five wickets despite Botham's effort.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38558.html |title=Somerset v Sussex, Gillette Cup Final, 1978 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=13 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161113040528/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38558.html |url-status=live }}</ref> They were involved in a tight contest for the JPL title and were placed second on run rate after tying with Hampshire and Leicestershire on 48 points each. Somerset did quite well in the County Championship, finishing fifth after winning nine matches, and reached the semi-final of the B&H Cup.

Botham's first tour of Australia was in 1978–79. England, defending the Ashes they had regained in 1977, played six Tests under Mike Brearley's leadership. Australia had what was effectively "a reserve team" because their leading players were contracted to [[World Series Cricket]] for the season.<ref name=DB320>Birley, p. 320.</ref> The difference in standard was evident on the first day of the first Test at [[the Gabba]] as Botham, [[Chris Old]] and [[Bob Willis]] bowled them out for only 116 in just 38 overs, England going on to win easily enough by seven wickets.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38681.html |title=Australia v England, First Test, 1978–79 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=24 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424013113/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/38/38681.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Apart from a surprise defeat in the third Test, England were never troubled and won the series 5–1. Botham's performance in the series was satisfactory but there were no headlines and only modest averages. He took 23 wickets at 24.65 with a best return of four for 42. He scored 291 runs with a highest of 74 at 29.10. He held 11 catches.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/England_in_Australia_1978-79/t_England_Batting.html |title=England Test Batting & Fielding, 1978–79 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=2 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102064231/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/England_in_Australia_1978-79/t_England_Batting.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/England_in_Australia_1978-79/t_England_Bowling.html |title=England Test Bowling, 1978–79 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=29 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029020934/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/England_in_Australia_1978-79/t_England_Bowling.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham played for England in the [[1979 Cricket World Cup]] and was a member of their losing team in the final.<ref name=CAWCM/> He was again an infrequent member of the Somerset team because of the World Cup and the Test series against India. It became a memorable season for Somerset as they built on their form in 1978 to win both the Gillette Cup and the JPL, their first-ever senior trophies. Botham played in the Gillette Cup final at Lord's, in which they defeated [[Northamptonshire County Cricket Club|Northamptonshire]] by 45 runs, thanks to a century by Viv Richards.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39691.html |title=Northamptonshire v Somerset, Gillette Cup Final, 1979 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=8 May 2017 |archive-date=8 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208034206/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39691.html |url-status=live }}</ref> They slipped to eighth in the County Championship. In the B&H Cup, however, they were expelled from the competition for bringing the game into disrepute after an unsporting declaration, designed to protect the team's run rate, by team captain [[Brian Rose (cricketer)|Brian Rose]].{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

The England v India series in 1979 took place after the World Cup ended and four Tests were played. England won the first at Edgbaston by an innings and 83 runs after opening with a massive total of 633 for five declared. Botham scored 33 and then took two for 86 and five for 70.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39446.html |title=England v India, First Test, 1979 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822181759/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39446.html |url-status=live }}</ref> On the first day of the second Test at Lord's, Botham swept through the Indian batting with five for 35 and a catch off [[Mike Hendrick]] to dismiss them for only 96 in 56 overs. Surprisingly, however, India recovered to salvage a draw.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39552.html |title=England v India, First Test, 1979 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=4 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404033042/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39552.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the third Test at Headingley, it was Botham the batsman who did the business, scoring 137 from 152 balls in England's first innings total of 270 (the next highest innings was 31 by Geoff Boycott). The match was ruined by the weather and was drawn.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39606.html |title=England v India, First Test, 1979 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=19 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019144614/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39606.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the final Test at [[The Oval]], England opened with 305 (Botham 38); India replied with 202 (Botham four for 65); and England with 334 for eight declared (Botham [[run out]] for a duck) extended their lead to 437 with four sessions remaining. Thanks to a brilliant 221 by [[Sunil Gavaskar]], India came agonisingly close to pulling off a remarkable last day victory but ran out of time on 429 for eight (Botham three for 97), just nine runs short, and so England won the series 1–0 with three draws.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39662.html |title=England v India, First Test, 1979 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=30 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730212335/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39662.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The shambolic state of international cricket at the end of the 1970s was illustrated by the panic resulting from a hastily convened settlement between World Series Cricket and [[Cricket Australia|the Australian Board of Control]]. Although they had visited Australia only twelve months earlier to play for the Ashes, England were persuaded to go there again and play another three Tests, but with the Ashes not at stake. As ''Wisden'' put it, the programme did not have the best interests of cricket at heart, particularly Australian cricket below Test level, which had been "swamped by the accent on Test and one-day internationals, neatly parcelled to present a cricketing package suitable for maximum exploitation on television".<ref name=W79>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/69697.html |title=England in Australia and India, 1979–80 |date=25 April 2007 |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824065253/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/69697.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The matches were widely perceived to be semi-official only and received "a definite thumbs down".<ref name=W79/> Botham was a member of the England team and played in all three matches which nevertheless count towards his Test statistics. England were largely faithful to the players who had toured Australia the previous winter and [[Derek Underwood]] was the only World Series player they recalled; they did not recall [[Alan Knott]], for example, while [[Tony Greig]] was beyond the pale.<ref>Birley, p.&nbsp;319.</ref> Australia recalled [[Greg Chappell]], [[Dennis Lillee]], [[Rod Marsh]] and [[Jeff Thomson]], fielding a team that was a mixture of old and new. In the first match, played at the [[WACA Ground]], Botham had match figures of eleven for 176 but to no avail as Australia won by 138 runs. Having excelled with the ball in that match, Botham did so with his bat in the third one, scoring an unbeaten 119 in the second innings of the third.<ref name=ITBTests/> Australia won all three matches of a series best forgotten for all its attendant politics, but Botham had enhanced his reputation as a world-class all-rounder.<ref name=W79/>

===Jubilee Test, India, February 1980===
Botham's third overseas tour was to [[English cricket team in India in 1979–80|India in February 1980]].<ref name=ITBTests>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/Test_Matches.html |title=Test matches played by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=1 May 2017 |archive-date=3 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303043918/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/Test_Matches.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It was the fiftieth anniversary of India's entry into Test cricket and so England played a single commemorative Test at the [[Wankhede Stadium]] in [[Mumbai|Bombay]]. It turned into a personal triumph for Botham who became the first player in Test history to score a [[century (cricket)|century]] and take ten [[wicket]]s in the same match.<ref>Note that Australian all-rounder [[Alan Keith Davidson|Alan Davidson]] was, in December 1960, the first player to complete the "match double" of 100 runs and ten wickets in the same Test match but his achievement did not include a century.</ref> England's [[wicketkeeper]] [[Bob Taylor (cricketer)|Bob Taylor]] held ten catches in the match, eight of them off Botham's bowling.<ref name=IvE80>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39959.html |title=India v England, February 1980 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=1 May 2017 |archive-date=6 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306224319/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/39/39959.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

India won the toss and decided to bat first but, with Botham taking six for 58, they were all out on day one for 242. England replied with 296, the highlight being Botham's 114 from just 144 balls; he began his innings with England in trouble at 57 for four. This quickly became 58 for five and Botham was joined by England's other match hero Taylor. England's first five batsmen had contributed just 51 to the total. Botham was often unfairly labelled a "big hitter" but in fact his style was very orthodox (i.e., he "played straight") and in this innings he scored 17 fours but, significantly, no sixes. Taylor provided dogged support and their sixth wicket partnership realised 171 runs. When Botham was out near the end of day two, the score was 229 for six and England reached 232 for six at close of play, still ten runs behind. On the third morning, Taylor led England past India's total and, with useful batting performances by the specialist bowlers, England totalled 296 to gain a first innings lead of 54.<ref name=IvE80/>

India's second innings was a disaster, and they lost eight wickets by the close of play on the third day with only [[Kapil Dev]] offering any resistance. They were all out early on the fourth day for 149. Botham was the outstanding performer again, taking seven for 48 which gave him match figures of thirteen for 106. [[Geoffrey Boycott]] and [[Graham Gooch]] scored the necessary runs for England to win by ten wickets with a day to spare.<ref name=IvE80/>

===Somerset and England (1980 to 1980–81)===
{{BLP sources section|date=February 2019}}
Mike Brearley announced his retirement from Test cricket after the Jubilee Test in Bombay and, somewhat surprisingly given his lack of captaincy experience, Botham was appointed to replace him as England's [[captain (cricket)|captain]] for the forthcoming home series against [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies]], who were at the time the world's outstanding team. Botham led England in twelve Tests in 1980 and 1981 but he was unsuccessful, the team achieving no wins, eight draws and four defeats under his leadership. In addition, his form suffered and was eventually dismissed from the post, although he did actually resign just before the selectors were about to fire him. In Botham's defence, nine of his matches as captain were against West Indies, who afterwards won twelve of their next thirteen Tests against England. The other three were all against Australia.

In 1980, which was a wet summer, West Indies arguably had the better of all five Test matches, although, with the rain constantly intervening, they were able to win only one of them. West Indies won the first Test by only two wickets, and being at one stage 180/7 chasing a tricky 208. Rain saved England from a probable heavy defeat in the 2nd and 5th Tests: they fared better in between. In the 3rd, England conceded a first-innings lead of 110, but replied strongly in the second innings with a painstakingly slow and defensive 391/7, which would have resulted in a difficult target for the Windies had there been another day to chase it – but the third day had been rained off, and time ran out. In the Fourth Test, England picked up their only first-innings lead of the series – of 105 runs – but collapsed catastrophically in the second, before being saved by a century partnership for the last wicket between Willey (100*) and Willis (24*) to reach a total 201/9, and again the loss of a day and a half to rain left no time for the Windies to chase a potentially tough target above 300.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} 

Botham had a poor season as a bowler and, in all first-class cricket, took just 40 wickets at the high average of 34.67 with a best return of only four for 38. He did better as a batsman, scoring 1,149 runs (the second time, after 1976, that he topped a thousand in a season) at 42.55: but this did not translate to form in the Tests. He completed two centuries and six other half-centuries for his county. His highest score in the season was ultimately the highest of his career: 228 for Somerset against Gloucestershire at Taunton in May. He batted for just over three hours, hitting 27 fours and ten sixes. With Gloucestershire batting out time for a draw on the final day, Somerset used all eleven players as bowlers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/40/40145.html |title=Somerset v Gloucestershire (CC), 1980 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2010 |archive-date=31 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131195620/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/40/40145.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Apart from an innings of 57 in the first Test, Botham contributed little to England in the series and that innings was the only time he reached 50 in all his twelve Tests as England captain.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} 

Somerset came close to retaining their JPL title in 1980 but had to be content with second place, only two points behind [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]]. They finished a credible fifth in the County Championship but were eliminated from both the Gillette and B&H Cups in the opening phase.

Botham led England on the controversial tour of the West Indies from January to April 1981. The second Test, scheduled to be played at [[Bourda]], was cancelled after the [[Guyana|Guyanese government]] revoking the visa of [[Robin Jackman]] because of his playing and coaching links with South Africa. The other four Tests were played and West Indies won the series 2–0 but England were helped by rain in the two drawn matches. Botham took the most wickets for England, but ''Wisden'' said "his bowling never recovered the full rhythm of a year before". His batting, however, apart from one good LOI performance in the first one-day international "was found wanting in technique, concentration and eventually in confidence". In ''Wisden's'' view, Botham's loss of form "could be cited as eloquent evidence of the undesirability of saddling a fast bowler and vital all-rounder with the extra burden of captaincy".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152217.html |title=England in West Indies, 1980–81 |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2010 |archive-date=8 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408225133/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152217.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The closest England came to a victory was in the first ODI, in which England bowled the West Indies out for 127 but, thanks to six wickets from Colin Croft, failed by two runs in the chase which was anchored by Botham's 60: this was, at the time, the lowest ODI total batting first to be successfully defended.

===Somerset and England (1981)===
The England captaincy had affected Botham's form as a player and in his last Test as captain, against Australia at [[Lord's Cricket Ground|Lord's]] in 1981, he was dismissed for a [[List of cricket terms#P|pair]].<ref name=EA81II>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41354.html |title=England v Australia, Second Test 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=24 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424053518/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41354.html |url-status=live}}</ref> According to ''Wisden'' editor [[Matthew Engel]], writing in ''[[ESPNcricinfo]]'', Botham "resigned (a minute before being sacked), his form shot to pieces" after that match.<ref name=ME/> Australia were then leading the series 1–0 after two Tests with four more to be played. Botham was replaced by the returning [[Mike Brearley]], who had been his predecessor until retiring from Test cricket in 1980.

Botham continued to play for England under Brearley and achieved the highpoint of his career in the next three Tests as England recovered to win [[The Ashes]]. In the third Test at [[Headingley Cricket Ground|Headingley]], Australia opened with 401 for 9 declared, despite good bowling by Botham who took 6 for 95. England responded poorly and were dismissed for 174. Botham was the only batsman to perform at all well and scored 50, which was his first Test half-century since he had been awarded the captaincy thirteen Tests earlier. Having been forced to [[follow-on]], England collapsed again and at 135 for 7 on the afternoon of the fourth day, an innings defeat looked certain. Bookmakers had reportedly been offering odds of 500/1 against an England win after the follow-on was enforced.<ref name=CMJ>{{cite web |last=Martin-Jenkins |first=Christopher |title=The great escape |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/253926.html |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-date=13 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213153041/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/story/253926.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Botham, himself not long at the wicket, was the sole remaining recognised batsman as he was joined by the fast bowler [[Graham Dilley]], number nine in the batting order, with only [[Chris Old]] and [[Bob Willis]] to come. With able support from Dilley (56) and Old (29), Botham hit out and by the close of play was 145 [[not out]] with Willis hanging on at the other end on 1 not out. England's lead was just 124 but there remained a glimmer of hope. On the final day's play, Botham reached 149 not out before Willis's wicket fell. Australia, with plenty of time remaining, needed 130 to win and were generally expected to get them; but after Botham took the first wicket, Willis took 8 for 43 to dismiss Australia for only 111.<ref name=EA81III>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41434.html |title=England v Australia, Third Test 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=27 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727233809/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41434.html |url-status=live}}</ref> England had won by 18 runs; it was only the second time in history that a team following on had won a Test match.<ref name=CMJ/>

Botham's outstanding form continued through the next two Tests. In the fourth at [[Edgbaston Cricket Ground|Edgbaston]], a low-scoring match left Australia batting last and needing 151 to win. They reached 105 for 5 and were still favourites at that point but, in an inspired spell of bowling, Botham then took five wickets for only one run in 28 balls to give England victory by 29 runs.<ref name=EA81IV>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41505.html |title=England v Australia, Fourth Test 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=24 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424061001/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41505.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In the fifth Test at [[Old Trafford Cricket Ground|Old Trafford]], Botham scored 118 in a partnership of 149 with [[Chris Tavaré]] before he was dismissed. He hit six sixes in that innings.<ref name=EA81V>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41571.html |title=England v Australia, Fifth Test 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=1 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701124209/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41571.html |url-status=live }}</ref> England won that match to take a winning 3–1 series lead. The last Test at [[The Oval]] was drawn, Botham achieving a 10wM by taking six for 125 and four for 128.<ref name=EA8VI>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41632.html |title=England v Australia, Sixth Test 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=30 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170730211513/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41632.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was named [[Man of the Series]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1981.html |title=Australia in British Isles, 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=10 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710234722/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1981.html |url-status=live}}</ref> after scoring 399 runs, taking 34 wickets and holding 12 catches.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1981/t_England_Batting.html |title=England Batting, 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=30 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030102206/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1981/t_England_Batting.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1981/t_England_Bowling.html |title=England Bowling, 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=29 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171029020942/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1981/t_England_Bowling.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Somerset won the Benson & Hedges Cup for the first time in 1981 and did well in the County Championship too, finishing third. They were again runners-up in the JPL, but a long way behind the winners [[Essex County Cricket Club|Essex]]. In the renamed NatWest Trophy (formerly Gillette Cup), Somerset were knocked out in the second round. Botham played in the B&H final at Lord's, in which Somerset defeated [[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]] by seven wickets. He took no wickets but provided Viv Richards (132 not out) with good support in the run chase.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41478.html |title=Somerset v Surrey, B&H Cup Final, 1981 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=8 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208035229/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/41/41478.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Botham ended the season with 67 wickets at 25.55, a best return of six for 90 (for Somerset v Sussex) and one 10wM (sixth Test). He scored 925 runs with a highest of 149* (third Test) at 42.04; and held 19 catches.

===Somerset and England (1981–82 to 1983–84)===
During this period, Botham played in 25 Tests. There were home series against both India and Pakistan in 1982; and New Zealand in 1983. His overseas tours were to India and Sri Lanka in 1981–82 (he took part in the inaugural Test played by [[Sri Lanka national cricket team|Sri Lanka]]); to Australia in 1982–83; and to New Zealand and Pakistan in 1983–84.<ref name=ITBTests/> He played for England in the [[1983 Cricket World Cup]] and was a member of their losing team in the semi-final.<ref name=CAWCM/>

Botham's return to India was less than triumphant and ''Wisden'' took him to task for his "ineffectiveness with the ball". Having achieved a match analysis of nine for 133 at Bombay, where England were beaten on a poor pitch, Botham took only eight more wickets, at 65 each, in the last five Tests and ''Wisden'' said this "was a telling blow to England's chance of levelling the series".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152246.html |title=England in India and Sri Lanka, 1981–82 |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=5 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170805000225/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152246.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

1982 was a good all-round season for Botham, especially as Somerset retained the Benson & Hedges Cup. In 17 first-class matches, he scored 1,241 runs with a highest of 208 against India (this was ultimately his career highest in Test cricket) at a good average of 44.32. He took 66 wickets at the low average of 22.98 with a best return of five for 46. England won their Test series against Pakistan by 2–1 and the one against India 1–0. Botham scored two centuries against India: 128 at [[Old Trafford Cricket Ground|Old Trafford]] and his career high 208 at [[The Oval]]. Somerset finished sixth and ninth in the County Championship and the JPL respectively. They reached the quarter-final of the NatWest Trophy and their season highlight was retaining the B&H Cup they won in 1981. In the final at Lord's, Somerset dismissed Nottinghamshire for only 130 (Botham two for 19) and won easily by nine wickets.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/42/42665.html |title=Somerset v Nottinghamshire, B&H Cup Final, 1982 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=8 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208034603/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/42/42665.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham toured Australia again in 1982–83 with England seeking to retain the Ashes, but Australia won the series 2–1 despite England winning, at the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] (MCG), a Test described by ''Wisden'' as "one of the most exciting Test matches ever played". Botham had a poor series and tour. He played in nine first-class matches and scored only 434 runs at the low average of 24.11 with a highest of 65. He was no better with the ball, taking just 29 wickets for a too-high 35.62 with a best return of four for 43. He did, however, field well and held 17 catches, nearly two a match.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154322.html |title=England in Australia, 1982–83 |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=2 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602162129/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154322.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Incidentally, it was during the subsequent ODI tournament – the annual [[Australian Tri-Series]], at the time called the "World Series" – that Botham opened the batting for the first time in one-day cricket. Due to the fielding restrictions in force in that tournament (and for ODIs in Australia generally since 1980), only two fielders were permitted outside the 30 yard circle during the first ten overs (now called a [[Powerplay (cricket)|Powerplay]]): and it was in the 9th match of the tournament, against Australia, that Botham opened the batting for the first time, with the idea that he was the batsman best equipped to hit the ball over the top.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/benson-hedges-world-series-cup-1982-83-60826/australia-vs-england-9th-match-65346/full-scorecard |title = Australia Tri-Series/World Series 1982-3, 9th match}}</ref> However, the tactic did not go as planned, Botham only scoring 19 and England losing the match. The tactic was more successful, two matches later<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/benson-hedges-world-series-cup-1982-83-60826/england-vs-new-zealand-11th-match-65348/full-scorecard |title = Australia Tri-Series/World Series 1982-3, 11th match}}</ref> against New Zealand with Botham scoring 65, but he was expensive with the ball as NZ chased the target successfully for the highest successful run-chase in ODIs at the time. England finished the tournament in third and last place and did not qualify for the finals.

[[File:Botham batting - geograph.org.uk - 257722.jpg|thumb|right|Botham batting at [[Trent Bridge]], 1983]]
In the 1983 English season, Somerset won the NatWest Trophy for the first time, defeating Kent in the Lord's final by 24 runs with Botham as their captain. They were very close to taking the JPL title too but, having tied with [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]] on 46 points, they were placed second on run rate. In the County Championship, they won only three matches and finished tenth. They were knocked out of the B&H Cup early. Botham had a good season with the bat, scoring 852 runs in his 14 first-class matches at 40.57 with a highest score of 152 among three centuries. He did less well with the ball: only 22 wickets at the high average of 33.09. New Zealand played a four-match Test series against England after the World Cup and, at the 29th attempt, finally defeated England for the first time in a Test match in England. England won the other three matches convincingly, however, to take the series 3–1.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155266.html |title=England in Australia, 1982–83 |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118113346/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155266.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Botham did little with the ball, the same story as in his whole season, but he did score a century (103) in the final Test at Trent Bridge (see photo).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/43/43989.html |title=England v New Zealand, Fourth Test, 1983 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=10 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710003221/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/43/43989.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the winter of 1983–84, England toured New Zealand from January to February and Pakistan in March. Apart from one innings at Basin Reserve in the first Test against New Zealand, Botham was a disappointment on this tour, especially as a bowler. He scored 138 in the first Test, sharing in a sixth wicket partnership of 232 with [[Derek Randall]] (164), but the match was drawn.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/43/43989.html |title=New Zealand v England, First Test, 1983–84 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=10 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170710003221/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/43/43989.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It was a poor tour for England, all told, and described by ''Wisden'' as "ranking among the unhappiest they have ever undertaken". England lost both series 1–0. Botham left Pakistan after the first Test there, the one England lost, to have a knee problem investigated at home.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153052.html |title=England in Fiji, New Zealand and Pakistan, 1983–84 |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=28 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151128022045/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153052.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Somerset and England (1984 to 1986–87)===
After ten seasons as a first-team regular, Botham was appointed Somerset club captain in 1984 and 1985. In the County Championship, they finished seventh in 1984 and then dropped to 17th (bottom of the table) in 1985. In the JPL, they were 15th in 1984 and eleventh in 1985. They made little impression in either of the B&H Cup or the NatWest Trophy so, all in all, Botham's captaincy period was a lean time for the club who had enjoyed its most successful period ever in the preceding seasons.

Botham played in 18 Tests from 1984 to 1986, ten of them (five home, five away) against West Indies. Throughout Botham's Test career, the highest international standards were set by West Indies and Botham was generally unsuccessful against them. In both of these series, 1984 and 1985–86, West Indies beat England 5–0 in whitewashes that were dubbed "blackwash".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/story/292033.html|title=England v West Indies: 1980–1995|publisher=[[ESPNcricinfo]]|access-date=4 August 2007|archive-date=11 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711055029/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvwi/content/story/292033.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

His highest score and both his best and worst bowling performances against West Indies occurred in the same match at Lord's in 1984. [[Clive Lloyd]] won the toss and, perhaps mistakenly, elected to field. The first day was rain-affected and England, 167 for two overnight, scored 286 after a century by [[Graeme Fowler]]; Botham scored a useful 30. West Indies lost three quick wickets, all of them to Botham who was a "reminder of his old self" in the words of ''Wisden'',<ref name=EWI84>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152304.html |title=England v West Indies, Lord's, 1984 |publisher=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack |year=1985 |access-date=3 May 2017 |archive-date=9 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709080920/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152304.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but recovered to reach 119 for three at the close of play on day two. 

In the third morning, Viv Richards was dismissed by Botham under dubious circumstances but Botham was inspired by the capture of his friend's wicket and went on to take eight for 103, dismissing West Indies for 245 and for once giving England a chance of victory against the world's best team, with a first innings lead of 41. This was Botham's best-ever bowling performance against West Indies by some distance. England began their second innings and had been reduced to 88 for four when Botham joined [[Allan Lamb]]. They reached 114 for four at day three close. There was no Sunday play and England resumed on the Monday 155 runs ahead with six wickets standing. Botham and Lamb added 128 for the fifth wicket before Botham was out for 81, including nine fours and one six, easily his highest score and best innings against West Indies. Lamb made a century and England were all out on the Tuesday morning (final day) for exactly 300. West Indies needed 342 to win in five and a half hours. They lost [[Desmond Haynes]] to a run out at 57 for 0, whereupon [[Larry Gomes]] (92 not out) joined [[Gordon Greenidge]] (214 not out) and West Indies went on to win by nine wickets with 11.5 of the last twenty overs to spare.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/44/44895.html |title=England v West Indies, Lord's, 1984 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=3 May 2017 |archive-date=28 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228190512/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/44/44895.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Although ''Wisden'' does not name Botham except as an "inattentive" fielder who dropped a catch, it describes the England bowlers "looking second-rate and nobody but Willis bowling the right line or setting the right field to the powerful and phlegmatic Greenidge". Botham bowled the most overs, 20, and with nought for 117 he conceded almost a run a ball (Willis had nought for 48 from 15 overs).<ref name=EWI84/> In mitigation, ''Wisden'' conceded that Greenidge played "the innings of his life, and his ruthless batting probably made the bowling look worse than it was".<ref name=EWI84/>

Botham also played in the one-off Test against Sri Lanka: not bowling particularly well in the first innings although he took the first wicket (1/114 out of 491), and being dismissed for 6 as England batted (370). Toward the end of Sri Lanka's second innings as the match meandered to a draw, in absolutely ferocious heat Botham dispensed with his usual fast bowler's long run-up and switched to bowling off-spin off a few paces, surprising everybody (himself included) by taking several wickets with it, out of an analysis of 6/90. He decided to take a rest over the winter, and sit out of the 1984–85 tour of India.

In 1985, Botham played in all six Tests against a poor Australian team as England, themselves a second-rate team based on their recent performances, comfortably regained the Ashes and he was the leading wicket-taker, but the series was dominated by England's specialist batsmen, especially [[Mike Gatting]] and [[David Gower]].<ref name=ITBTests/> Botham, who by this time had adopted a dyed blonde [[Mullet (haircut)|mullet]] haircut as a trademark, contributed relatively little with the bat, compared with the massive totals amassed by Gower, Gatting, [[Graham Gooch]] and [[Tim Robinson (English cricketer)|Tim Robinson]]. He scored 250 runs at 31.25 with a highest of 85. He did take the most wickets (31 at 27.58 with a best of five for 109) but he was rarely impressive and he was bowling to a weak batting side, Allan Border apart. England's best bowler was [[Richard Ellison (cricketer)|Richard Ellison]] who played only twice and took 17 wickets at only 10.88 with a best of six for 77 and one 10wM.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1985/t_England_Bowling.html |title=Test Bowling for England, 1985 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=21 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921000501/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Events/0/Australia_in_British_Isles_1985/t_England_Bowling.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham was suspended for 63 days by the [[Test and County Cricket Board]] in 1986 after he admitted in an interview that he had smoked [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]].<ref name=86ban>{{cite news|date=2 July 2006|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/dec/13/football.topstories3|title=Caborn attacked on plan to ease dope rules|work=The Guardian|location=UK|last=Mackay|first=Duncan|access-date=27 December 2006|archive-date=28 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128091324/http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1970796,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Due to the ban, Botham played in only one Test which was the final one of the series against New Zealand.<ref name=ITBTests/> He made his mark on that Test though: beginning it by taking the wicket of Bruce Edgar with his very first delivery, to go level with Dennis Lillee on 355 as holder of the world record for Test wickets. The next delivery was edged through the slip cordon by Jeff Crowe. Botham went past the mark in his second over to hold the record outright, by trapping Crowe leg-before. Then on the fourth day of the match, coming in after centuries from Gatting and Gower, he bashed a quickfire half-century in just 32 balls, including 24 off one over from Derek Stirling – equalling the record at the time, for most runs off an over in Tests... a record which he was responsible for, but from the other side, having conceded 24 runs to Andy Roberts back in the 1980/81 tour of the West Indies. England declared with a massive first-innings lead, but rain came after lunch on the fourth day and only one further over was bowled.

Botham was succeeded by [[Peter Roebuck]] as Somerset captain for 1986 but, during the season, tensions arose in the Somerset dressing room which eventually exploded into a full-scale row and resulted in the sacking by the club of Botham's friends Viv Richards and [[Joel Garner]]. Botham, who supported Richards and Garner, decided to resign at the end of the season.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/player/19456.html |title=Player Profile: Peter Roebuck |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-date=13 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213202148/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/player/19456.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 1986 was not a season for Botham to remember except for one brilliant List A innings when he made his career highest score in the limited overs form of 175 [[not out]] for Somerset against [[Northamptonshire County Cricket Club|Northamptonshire]] in a 39-over JPL match at the [[Wellingborough School (cricket ground)|Wellingborough School ground]]. It was to no avail, however, as the weather intervened and the game ended in no result. His innings remains a ground record.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/47/47721.html |title=Northamptonshire v Somerset (JPL), 1986 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=28 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928004652/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/47/47721.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/822/a_Centuries.html |title=Highest score at Wellingborough School Ground (one day) |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=14 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171214153511/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/822/a_Centuries.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham's final tour of Australia was in 1986/87 under Mike Gatting's captaincy. He played in four Tests and England won the Ashes for the last time until 2005. In many ways, the series was also Botham's last hurrah because he scored his final Test century (138 in the first Test at Brisbane which England won by seven wickets) and took his final Test 5wI (five for 41 in the fourth Test at the MCG which England won by an innings and 14 runs). ''Wisden'' pointed out that although Botham had a modest series statistically, "he was an asset to the side" because of his enthusiasm and "going out of his way to encourage younger players, especially [[Phil DeFreitas]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155272.html |title=England in Australia 1986–87 |work=Cricinfo |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=7 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307013434/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/155272.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Botham suffered a severe rib injury in the Second Test in Perth, which kept him out of the 3rd Test entirely and reduced the pace of his bowling for the remainder of the tour as he tried to manage it:  as a result, with reasonable success, he changed his bowling style to a defensive, miserly military-medium pace. England also won the two one-day tournaments, the one-off Benson & Hedges Perth Challenge (against Australia, West Indies and Pakistan) and the World Series (against Australia and Windies): Botham produced several match-winning performances with both bat and ball despite being not fully fit, and was Man of the Match in both matches of the best-of-three final of the World Series – with the bat in the first, opening the batting for 71 (scored out of 91 while he was at the crease), and with the ball in the second, for a particularly miserly spell which also took three wickets as England defended a low total by nine runs, to win the finals 2–0. Once again, thanks to the fielding restrictions in place for the World Series tournament, Botham opened the batting - a tactic that had been trialled in the 1982-3 tour: the tactic met with mixed success in the group stages, but it came good in the final.

===Worcestershire and England (1987 to 1991)===
After his resignation from Somerset, Botham joined [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]] for the 1987 season and spent five seasons with them. In 1987, he scored 126* against his old county but otherwise he was more successful as a limited overs batsman, scoring two centuries and averaging 40.94. His bowling too was much better in the shorter form, wherein he averaged 21.29 against 42.04 in first-class. His limited overs efforts helped Worcestershire to win the Sunday League. They finished ninth in the County Championship and were unsuccessful in the two knockout trophies. Worcestershire, taking a leaf from England's winter tactic, sometimes used Botham to open the batting in one-day matches, in partnership with regular opener Tim Curtis.

Botham played in the five 1987 Tests against Pakistan, the last time he represented England in a full series.<ref name=ITBTests/> He scored 232 runs in the series with one half-century (51*) at 33.14; and took only seven wickets which were enormously expensive. Pakistan won by an innings at Headingley with the other four Tests drawn, although England were in superior positions in the First and Fourth tests which lost much time to rain, and only narrowly failed to level the series in the Fourth, running out of overs chasing a small target.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153090.html |title=Pakistan in England, 1987 |work=Cricinfo |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118113218/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153090.html |url-status=live }}</ref> When Pakistan totalled 708 at The Oval, the 217 runs conceded by Botham, from 52 overs, were the most by an England bowler, passing the 204 by [[Ian Peebles]], from 71 overs, against Australia at The Oval in 1930, although he took three wickets and also ran out Imran Khan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151988.html |title=England v Pakistan, Fifth Test, 1987 |work=Cricinfo |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=20 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170620133509/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/151988.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The half-century, his final and by far his slowest Test fifty, was a dogged, defensive effort occupying most of the last day in a drawn match, in an unbroken partnership with Gatting (150*) to save the 5th test and keep England's margin of defeat at 1–0. He declined to go on tour with England the following winter, either for the 1987 World Cup in India and Pakistan (in which England reached the final) or for the subsequent tours of Pakistan (lost 1–0) and New Zealand (a rain-ruined 0–0 drawn series).

Botham spent the 1987–88 Australian season with [[Queensland cricket team|Queensland]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122114349|title=I'm the best: Botham|date=11 November 1987|work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995)|access-date=17 April 2020|pages=40|archive-date=26 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213317/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/122114349|url-status=live}}</ref> playing for them in the [[Sheffield Shield]]. Queensland were one of the better state teams in the 1980s and were always in the Shield's top three from the 1983–84 season through to the 1990–91 season, but didn't win it. In Botham's season there, his teammates including Allan Border (captain), [[wicketkeeper]] [[Ian Healy]] and pace bowler [[Craig McDermott]], they finished second to [[Western Australia cricket team|Western Australia]]. Botham scored several half-centuries and took a reasonable number of wickets and helped Queensland make the Sheffield Shield final. Botham and [[Dennis Lillee]] were fined for damaging the Queensland dressing room in [[Launceston, Tasmania]] during a one-day match.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv9a_zcsvxg|title=Ian Botham in trouble in Australia 1988|date=2 October 2021 |via=www.youtube.com}}</ref> When the Queensland team flew to Perth for the Shield final, Botham was involved in an altercation where he allegedly assaulted a fellow airline passenger who had intervened in an argument between the Queensland players.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,1404052,00.html |title=The officer gave me a bat to sign, then he charged me with assault |work=The Observer |location=UK |date=2 February 2005 |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-date=8 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090808173938/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1404052,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101982781 |title=Botham in trouble over Perth flight |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=62 |issue=19,156 |date=17 March 1988 |access-date=14 October 2017 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=26 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213317/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101982781 |url-status=live }}</ref> Queensland lost the final.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101984069 |title=TIMES Sport |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=62 |issue=19,162 |date=23 March 1988 |access-date=14 October 2017 |page=40 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=26 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213318/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101984069 |url-status=live }}</ref> Botham was fined $800 by a magistrate<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101984498 |title=Botham incident 'a tragedy' |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=62 |issue=19,164 |date=25 March 1988 |access-date=14 October 2017 |page=16 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=26 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213321/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101984498 |url-status=live }}</ref> and $5,000 by the Australian Cricket Board.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101985211 |title=Cricket board fines Botham $5000 |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=62 |issue=19,168 |date=29 March 1988 |access-date=14 October 2017 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=26 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213320/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101985211 |url-status=live }}</ref> He was consequently sacked by Queensland.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article101985488 |title=Q'land ends Botham's contract |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]] |volume=62 |issue=19,169 |date=30 March 1988 |access-date=14 October 2017 |page=38 |via=National Library of Australia |archive-date=26 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213320/https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/101985488 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham was unfit for most of the 1988 season and played in only four first-class and seven limited overs matches during April and May. He did not play for England. Nevertheless, Worcestershire won both the County Championship and the Sunday League. Botham was out of action for eleven months, having had an operation to fuse vertebrae in his spine in response to a long-standing back problem.

He returned in May 1989 and, bowling well in the County Championship, helped Worcestershire to a second successive title. With England struggling against Allan Border's rebuilt Australian team which featured the likes of Healy, McDermott, [[Steve Waugh]], [[Merv Hughes]] and [[Mark Taylor (cricketer)|Mark Taylor]], Botham was recalled for the third, fourth and fifth Tests of the pivotal Ashes 1989 series. He could do little to stem a tide which had now turned completely in Australia's favour and looked completely out of his depth. He scored only 62 runs at the very low average of 15.50 – two-thirds of them in one innings – and took just three wickets at an enormously expensive 80.33.<ref name=CAbatT>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/t_Batting_by_Season.html |title=Test Batting and Fielding in Each Season by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201031911/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/t_Batting_by_Season.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=CAbowlT>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/t_Bowling_by_Season.html |title=Test Bowling in Each Season by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201035923/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/t_Bowling_by_Season.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The summer of 1989 saw more controversy for England with the organisation of a rebel tour to South Africa, all participants being banned for three years: Botham declined the rebel tour, hoping to be selected for the winter tour of the West Indies, only to be dropped for his poor form.

Another two-year absence from international cricket ensued until he was recalled again to play against West Indies in 1991, on the strength of belting 161* for Worcestershire against them in their early-season tour match against the county – it was to be his only century ever against the West Indies. He was selected for the early-season ODI series at first: he took a wicket in his first over, and four in his ten-over spell, but later tore a hamstring, going for a quick single while batting. He could have retired hurt, but opted to continue with a runner, only to be dismissed by the next delivery. The injury put him out of the remaining ODIs (both won by England) and the first couple of Tests (which England won and drew to lead 1–0): then, on his comeback in a county match, another injury caused him to be unavailable for the 3rd and 4th Tests (both lost by England). 

He was recalled for the 5th Test with England needing a victory to tie the series: batting in the first innings, he scored a respectable 31 before attempting to hook Curtly Ambrose and being dismissed "[[hit wicket]]", in circumstances which caused an infamous giggling fit in the BBC ''[[Test Match Special]]'' radio commentary box. Used sparingly with the ball, he took 1/27 and 2/40 as West Indies were bowled out, forced to follow on and bowled out again, by Tufnell (6/25) and Lawrence (5/106) in the first and second innings respectively. His only Test victory against the Windies was completed when he himself hit the winning runs – a boundary off his first delivery – as England chased a target of 143 with five wickets to spare, and tied the series. Two weeks later, he played against Sri Lanka at Lord's, achieving little of note. He helped Worcestershire to win the B&H Cup for the only time in 1991.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===Durham and England (1991–92 to 1993)===
Botham's final tour was to Australia and New Zealand in 1991–92.  In the tour of NZ, he played in only the last Test, and the one-day series: his most notable contribution was his highest ODI score of 79, opening the batting, in which he seemed to be set fair to finally reach a century in an ODI, but NZ managed to keep him away from the strike for several overs, he ran out of patience, slogged a delivery straight up in the air and was caught. After this came the [[1992 Cricket World Cup|World Cup]] in Australia. Botham had not previously won any man of the match awards in the World Cup, but in this competition he won two. Against [[India national cricket team|India]] at the [[WACA Ground]], he bowled tightly and restricted India, needing 237, to only 27 runs from his ten overs, an economy rate of 2.70 which was significantly lower than anyone else's. He captured two wickets and one of them was [[Sachin Tendulkar]]. England won by nine runs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/55/55534.html |title=England v India (World Cup), 1992 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=23 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023043002/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/55/55534.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Against [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] at [[Sydney Cricket Ground]] later in the competition, Botham won the award for the sort of all-round performance which had made his reputation. Australia won the toss and decided to bat first. They scored 171 all out in 49 overs and Botham took four for 31 in his ten. He then opened the England innings with [[Graham Gooch]] – the tactic England had trialled in Australia five years before, and again in the ODIs against NZ at the end of the tour before the World Cup – and scored 53 from only 77 balls in a partnership with Gooch of 107. England went on to win by eight wickets with nine overs to spare.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/55/55567.html |title=England v Australia (World Cup), 1992 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=22 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022101409/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/55/55567.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was less successful in the final, where previously economical bowling figures were ruined by a late assault from the Pakistani batting line-up, and then he was given out caught-behind for a duck (perhaps unfortunately,{{according to whom|date=January 2024}} since he appeared not to have touched the ball according to the camera replays) in Wasim Akram's first over, England losing the match.

In 1992, Botham joined County Championship newcomers [[Durham County Cricket Club|Durham]], scoring a century in the second innings in their inaugural first-class match against Leicestershire: and he played in the first two Tests against Pakistan, the second one at Lord's being his final Test appearance.<ref name=ITBTests/> Botham scored 2 and 6, cheaply dismissed each time by the pace of [[Waqar Younis]]. As a bowler, he was used for only five overs in the first innings, his final Test return being none for nine: he did not bowl in Pakistan's second innings, due to a foot injury sustained while batting, although he fielded at slip. England lost the match by two wickets and Pakistan went on to win the series 2–1.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/55/55992.html |title=England v Pakistan, Second Test, 1992 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=4 January 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180104065602/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/55/55992.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Botham did however play in the ODI series, in all five matches, which England won 4–1: these were his last international matches. England's batting was so dominant in all but one of the matches, that Botham only came in right at the end of the innings, or not at all, reverting to his old place in the middle order, and he had little to do: except in the 4th match, where he opened the batting again (in Gooch's absence) and scored a respectable and workmanlike 40, but saw England lose their last four wickets for ten runs and the match by three runs. His bowling was similarly unremarkable, usually capturing one or two wickets at about four an over: he neither scored a run (did not bat) nor took a wicket (0–43) in his final match.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ENG vs PAK Cricket Scorecard, 5th ODI at Manchester, August 24, 1992 |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/pakistan-tour-of-england-1992-61462/england-vs-pakistan-5th-odi-65007/full-scorecard |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=ESPNcricinfo |language=en}}</ref>

In 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]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=52952 |supp=y |page=9 |date=12 June 1992 }}</ref>

Botham retired from cricket midway through the 1993 season, his last match being for Durham against the visiting Australians at [[The Racecourse]] 17–19 July 1993. Durham batted first and scored 385 for eight declared ([[Wayne Larkins]] 151). In his final first-class innings, Botham scored 32. In reply, Australia could only make 221, due to [[Simon Brown (cricketer)|Simon Brown]] who took seven for 70 (Botham none for 21). Being 164 behind, Australia had to follow on and a victory for Durham was possible but centuries by [[Matthew Hayden]] and [[David Boon]] saved Australia and the match was drawn. Botham's final bowling return was none for 45 from eleven overs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/57/57576.html |title=Durham v Australians, 1993 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=10 May 2017 |archive-date=23 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023022036/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/57/57576.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In the final over of the game, Botham also [[wicket-keeper|kept wicket]], without wearing gloves or pads.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149642.html |title=A rare old day |date=19 July 2005 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=19 July 2017 |archive-date=19 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719050918/http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149642.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Records in international cricket==
{{see also|Player of the Match awards (cricket)}}
[[File:IBothamBowling.png|thumb|300px|right|A graph showing Botham's Test career bowling statistics and how they have varied over time]]
Botham's [[Test cricket|Test career]] spanned 16 seasons and he played in 102 matches. He scored 5,200 runs at an average of 33.54 with a highest score of 208 in his 14 [[century (cricket)|centuries]]. He took 383 [[wicket]]s at an average of 28.40 with a best return of eight for 34 and achieved [[ten wickets in a match]] four times. He held 120 catches.<ref name=CAprofile/>

In 116 LOIs from 1976 to 1992, he scored 2,113 [[run (cricket)|runs]] with a highest score of 79; took 145 [[wicket]]s with a best return of four for 31; and held 36 [[caught|catches]].<ref name=CAprofile>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/1529.html |title=Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=1 May 2017 |archive-date=19 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419025659/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/1529.html |url-status=live }}</ref> A straight comparison of these totals with those of his Test career reveal that he was less effective in the limited overs form of the game. He did have some outstanding LOI matches, however, winning six [[man of the match]] awards.<ref name=CAawards>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/match_awards.html |title=Matches in which Ian Botham won an award |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=22 November 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081122152740/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/match_awards.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Botham took part in three editions of the [[Cricket World Cup]]: 1979, 1983 and 1992. He played in 22 World Cup matches including the finals in 1979 and 1992, both of which England lost, and he was in England's losing team in the 1983 semi-final.<ref name=CAWCM>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/World_Cup_Matches.html |title=World Cup Matches played by Ian Botham |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=31 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171031063030/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1529/World_Cup_Matches.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Botham was the 21st player to achieve the "double" of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket and he went on to score 5,200 runs and take 383 wickets, as well as holding 120 catches.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282786.html |title=All-round records |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=28 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120428211659/http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/282786.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

He held the world record for the greatest number of Test wickets from 21 August 1986 to 12 November 1988. His predecessor was [[Dennis Lillee]] who had retired with 355 wickets in 70 matches. Botham extended the record to 373 in 94 matches before he was overtaken by Richard Hadlee. Botham ended with 383 wickets in 102 matches while Hadlee extended the record to 431 in 86 matches. See [[List of Test cricket records#Career]].

As described above, Botham in 1980 became the second player to achieve the "match double" of 100 runs and ten wickets in Test cricket, following [[Alan Keith Davidson|Alan Davidson]] in 1960–61. Botham was, however, the first to score a century and take ten wickets in a Test match (Davidson scored 44 and 80). The century and ten double has since been achieved by [[Imran Khan]] who scored 117 and took six for 98 and five for 82 against India at the [[Iqbal Stadium]] in [[Faisalabad]] in January 1983.,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/43/43120.html |title=Pakistan v India, Third Test, 1982–83 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=23 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223162219/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/43/43120.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and again by [[Shakib Al Hasan]] for Bangladesh against Zimbabwe at Khulna in 2014.

==List of Test centuries and five-wicket innings==
{{See also|List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Ian Botham}}

[[File:Ian Botham graph.png|right|thumb|350px|Botham's Test career performance graph]]
Compared with many of cricket's greatest players, most of whom were specialists, Botham's averages seem fairly ordinary but this overlooks the fact that he was a genuine [[all-rounder]] and it is rare for this type of player to achieve world-class status. Since the [[Second World War]], Botham is one of perhaps a dozen or so world-class all-rounders whereas there have been numerous world-class specialists. Some of the great all-rounders, such as [[Garfield Sobers]] and [[Jacques Kallis]] as batsmen or [[Alan Keith Davidson|Alan Davidson]] and [[Richard Hadlee]] as bowlers, could justifiably be described as world-class specialists in their main discipline who were effective practitioners of the other. The genuine all-rounders to achieve world-class status during the era, besides Botham himself, have included [[Keith Miller]], [[Richie Benaud]], [[Mike Procter]], [[Clive Rice]], [[Imran Khan]], [[Kapil Dev]] and [[Andrew Flintoff]].

Of note, Botham's first 202 wickets came at 21.20 per wicket, while his final 181 cost on average 36.43 apiece;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://statserver.cricket.org/guru?sdb=player;playerid=1529;class=testplayer;filter=basic;team=0;opposition=0;notopposition=0;season=0;homeaway=0;continent=0;country=0;notcountry=0;groundid=0;startdefault=1977-07-28;start=1977-07-28;enddefault=1992-06-21;end=1992-06-21;tourneyid=0;finals=0;daynight=0;toss=0;scheduledovers=0;scheduleddays=0;innings=0;result=0;followon=0;seriesresult=0;captain=0;keeper=0;dnp=0;recent=;runslow=;runshigh=;batposition=0;dismissal=0;viewtype=bow_cumulative;bowposition=0;ballslow=;ballshigh=;bpof=0;overslow=;overshigh=;conclow=;conchigh=;wicketslow=;wicketshigh=;dismissalslow=;dismissalshigh=;caughtlow=;caughthigh=;caughttype=0;stumpedlow=;stumpedhigh=;csearch=;submit=1;.cgifields=viewtype|title=IT Botham&nbsp;– Test Bowling&nbsp;– Cumulative career averages|publisher=ESPNcricinfo|access-date=28 August 2009}}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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 the longer term effects of a back injury he sustained in 1980;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153572.html |title=England v West Indies 1980 |work=Cricinfo |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2017 |archive-date=6 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160706053030/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/153572.html |url-status=live }}</ref> this limited his bowling pace and his ability to swing the ball.

Botham's batting&nbsp;– although never the equal of his bowling abilities&nbsp;– 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,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://statserver.cricket.org/guru?sdb=player;playerid=1529;class=testplayer;filter=basic;team=0;opposition=0;notopposition=0;season=0;homeaway=0;continent=0;country=0;notcountry=0;groundid=0;startdefault=1977-07-28;start=1977-07-28;enddefault=1992-06-21;end=1992-06-21;tourneyid=0;finals=0;daynight=0;toss=0;scheduledovers=0;scheduleddays=0;innings=0;result=0;followon=0;seriesresult=0;captain=0;keeper=0;dnp=0;recent=;viewtype=bat_cumulative;runslow=;runshigh=;batposition=0;dismissal=0;bowposition=0;ballslow=;ballshigh=;bpof=0;overslow=;overshigh=;conclow=;conchigh=;wicketslow=;wicketshigh=;dismissalslow=;dismissalshigh=;caughtlow=;caughthigh=;caughttype=0;stumpedlow=;stumpedhigh=;csearch=;submit=1;.cgifields=viewtype |title=I. T. Botham&nbsp;– Test Batting&nbsp;– Cumulative career averages |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=28 August 2009 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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 2,557 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/9163.html?captain=0;class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=default;spanmax1=28+Jul+1982;spanval1=span;template=results;type=allround |title=I. T. Botham&nbsp;– Test career all-round analysis |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=4 May 2009 |archive-date=2 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002230006/http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/9163.html?captain=0;class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=default;spanmax1=28+Jul+1982;spanval1=span;template=results;type=allround |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.

==Style and technique==
Botham had an affinity with [[Brian Close]], his first county captain who became a mentor to him, as they shared a determination to do well and win matches. ''Wisden'' has commented on another shared characteristic: "outstanding courage", mainly because Botham would readily field anywhere, generally in the slips but also in dangerous positions near the batsman and he was a brilliant fielder.<ref name=WCY78>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154495.html |title=Ian Botham: Cricketer of the Year |publisher=John Wisden & Co. |year=1978 |access-date=2 May 2017 |archive-date=27 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827174043/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154495.html |url-status=live}}</ref> As a batsman, Botham was often wrongly labelled by the tabloid press as a "big hitter" (effectively implying that he was a "[[Pinch hitter (cricket)|slogger]]") but, while it is true that his strength enabled him to drive a ball for six and his courage to hook one for six, Botham actually had a very correct batting style as he stood side-on and played straight: ''Wisden'' praised his "straight hitting and square cutting".<ref name=WCY78/> 

Botham might not have been good enough to retain a regular England place as a specialist batsman (his Test career [[batting average (cricket)|batting average]] was a fairly modest 33.54) but as a bowler who was capable of taking 383 Test wickets, he certainly would. ''Wisden'' praised [[Tom Cartwright]] for helping to develop Botham's technique as a [[swing bowling|swing bowler]] and, by the time he made his Test debut in 1977, Botham had mastered change of pace, the [[outswinger]] and the fast [[Inswinger|inswinging]] [[yorker]], all formidable parts of his repertoire which eventually enabled him to break the world Test wicket record.<ref name=WCY78/>

Writing in ''Barclays World of Cricket'' (1986), former England captain [[Tony Lewis]] commented on Botham's strength, enthusiasm and aggression "which he took into every game".<ref name=BSW157>Barclays, pp. 157–158.</ref> Lewis, however, said that Botham's exuberance often reduced the efficiency of his play, in that he would take too many risks or refuse to give up on a bowling tactic despite ongoing heavy cost. He summarised Botham as an exciting cricketer who lacked self-discipline.<ref name=BSW157/> Botham was in the middle of his career when the book was published, but Lewis emphasised the speed at which Botham had achieved certain milestones such as 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. At that time there seemed no reason why Botham should not go on reaching milestones, but he had already peaked and, in retrospect, his career had a meteoric aspect. His rival [[Imran Khan]] said: "Botham was someone who I don't think ever did justice to his talent. When he started he could have done anything, but he declined very quickly. In a way our careers were the opposite of each other. I started quite slowly but got better, maximised my talent. He went the other way, I think".<ref name=OG2006/>

==Legacy==
Botham's career and ability level has been oft-debated.  For example, when naming him as a [[Wisden Cricketers of the Year|Cricketer of the Year]] in its 1978 edition, ''Wisden'' described Botham as "a determined character who knows where he is aiming, and who will, quite naturally and fiercely, address himself to the interesting view that he is overrated".<ref name=WCY78/> [[Denis Compton]] would dismiss Botham as "overrated" and said he "only did well because all the best players had joined [[Kerry Packer|Packer]]": i.e., for [[World Series Cricket]] (WSC).<ref name=DB324>Birley, p. 324.</ref>

Botham would readily give praise to his colleagues, for instance, his batting partners [[Hallam Moseley]] and [[Bob Clapp]] after the 1974 Benson and Hedges quarter-final against Hampshire;<ref name="WCY78" /> and to [[Bob Willis]], the man whose bowling spell won the test match at Headingley in 1981.<ref name="W327">{{cite book |last=Wisden |title=Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, 119th edition |edition=1982 |editor-last=Woodcock |editor-first=John |editor-link=John Woodcock (cricket writer) |publisher=MacDonald Queen Anne Press |location=London |page=327}}</ref>

The [[Richards–Botham Trophy]], set to replace the [[Wisden Trophy]] for winners of West Indies–England Test series, is named in honour of Botham and [[Viv Richards]].<ref>{{cite news |title=England v West Indies: Richards-Botham Trophy to replace Wisden Trophy |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/53501048 |url-status=live |publisher=BBC Sport |date=23 July 2020 |access-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725041305/https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/53501048 |archive-date=25 July 2020}}</ref>

==Libel cases brought against Imran Khan (1994–1996)==
In 1994, the year after he retired, Botham became embroiled in a legal dispute with [[Imran Khan]] who, in an article for ''[[India Today]]'', had accused Botham and [[Allan Lamb]] of bringing cricket into disrepute. Botham and Lamb instigated a libel action in response.<ref>{{cite news |last=Garner |first=Clare |date=16 July 1996 |title=Khan v Lamb and Botham; Botham steps up to crease for libel battle |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/khan-v-lamb-and-botham-botham-steps-up-to-crease-for-libel-battle-1328935.html |url-status=live |work=The Independent |access-date=19 June 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120429080959/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/khan-v-lamb-and-botham-botham-steps-up-to-crease-for-libel-battle-1328935.html |archive-date=29 April 2012}}</ref> The case was heard at the [[Royal Courts of Justice|High Court]] in 1996 with the court choosing to hear on the second day a separate action brought solely by Botham against Khan, who had suggested in a newspaper article that Botham had been involved in [[ball-tampering]].<ref name=OG2006>{{cite news |date=13 December 2006 |last=Adams |first=Tim |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/jul/02/cricket.features3 |title=The path of Khan |work=The Observer |location=London |access-date=27 December 2006 |archive-date=31 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231065437/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,1807210,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/72416.html |title=Imran Khan To Face Botham, Lamb in Court |date=17 July 1996 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=19 June 2012 |archive-date=4 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150404162339/http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/72416.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This would become the subject of a court case later on, one that Khan would go on to win. Botham was liable for all expenses in the court case in the ruling, including those incurred by Khan.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/botham-and-lamb-bowled-over-by-defeat-in-pounds-500000-high-court-test-1307606.html |title=Imran wins! |work=[[The Independent]] |location=UK |access-date=25 June 2011 |first=Jojo |last=Moyes |author-link=Jojo Moyes |date=1 August 1996 |archive-date=7 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007211938/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/botham-and-lamb-bowled-over-by-defeat-in-pounds-500000-high-court-test-1307606.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Football career==
Botham was a talented [[association football|footballer]] but, believing he was better at cricket, he chose the latter for his full-time career. Even so, he played football as a [[defender (association football)|centre-half]] from 1978 to 1985 for [[Yeovil Town F.C.|Yeovil Town]] and [[Scunthorpe United F.C.|Scunthorpe United]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/737770 |title=Off-side – a cricketing XI that made strides in football |work=International Cricket Council |access-date=21 June 2018 |archive-date=18 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118164533/https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/737770 |url-status=live }}</ref> He made eleven appearances in the [[Football League]] for Scunthorpe.<ref name="PFA">{{cite book |last=Hugman |first=Barry J. |title=The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005 |publisher=Queen Anne Press |year=2005 |page=71 |isbn=1-85291-665-6}}</ref> While with Yeovil, Botham made an appearance for the [[Football Association XI]] (a representative side for [[non-League football]]ers) against the [[Northern Football League]] at [[Croft Park]] during the [[1984–85 in English football|1984–85 season]].<ref>Tony Williams, ''Official Football Association Non-League Directory 1986'', Newnes Books, 1985, pp. 28–29</ref>

==Charity fundraising==

[[File:"Sticky Wicket", Paddington Bear, Regent's Park - geograph.org.uk - 4268831.jpg|thumb|upright|Botham's [[Paddington Bear]] statue—themed "Sticky Wicket"—in [[Regent's Park]], London, auctioned to raise funds for the [[National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children|NSPCC]]]]

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 [[Land's End to John o' Groats|John o' Groats to Land's End]]. His efforts were inspired after a visit to [[Taunton]]'s [[Musgrove Park Hospital]] in 1977 while 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. At the time he was an expectant father.<ref name=BBCnews/> Since then his efforts have raised more than [[pound sign|£12]]&nbsp;million for charity, with leukaemia research the main cause to benefit. In recognition of this work, Botham in 2003 became the first-ever President of [[Bloodwise]], the UK's leading blood cancer charity.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8613310.stm |title=Sir Ian starts anniversary charity walk in Manchester |publisher=BBC News |date=10 April 2010 |access-date=3 August 2013 |archive-date=26 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213335/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/8613310.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> In November 2014, Botham designed a [[Paddington Bear]] statue, one of fifty created by various celebrities which were located around London prior to the release of the film ''[[Paddington (film)|Paddington]]'', with the statues auctioned to raise funds for the [[National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children]] (NSPCC).<ref>{{cite news |title=Why Paddington Bear Statues Have Taken Over London |url=https://www.cntraveler.com/galleries/2014-11-24/paddington-bear-statues-taken-over-london-david-beckham-benedict-cumberbatch |access-date=25 November 2023 |work=Condé Nast}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Shaunna |title=Emma Watson Designed A Paddington Bear For Charity And It's Freaking Adorable |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/1984950/emma-watson-paddington-bear/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107012511/http://www.mtv.com/news/1984950/emma-watson-paddington-bear/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=7 November 2014 |date=3 November 2014 |access-date=25 November 2023 |publisher=MTV}}</ref>

On 10 October 2007, Botham was invested a [[Knight Bachelor]] by [[Queen Elizabeth II]] at [[Buckingham Palace]], having been appointed in the [[2007 Birthday Honours|Queen's Birthday Honours]]<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=58358 |date=16 June 2007 |page=1 |supp=y}}</ref> "for services to Charity and to Cricket".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/298185.html |title=Ian Botham knighted in Birthday Honours |date=16 June 2007 |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-date=10 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010054241/http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/england/content/current/story/298185.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=the London Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/58358/supplement/1|website=thegazette.co.uk|access-date=24 August 2017|archive-date=17 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817120107/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/58358/supplement/1|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Media career==
After retiring from cricket, Botham became involved in the media and has worked as an analyst and commentator for [[Sky Sports]] for many years. Unlike [[Fred Trueman]] and others, he does not hark back to "in my day".<ref>{{cite book |title=Test Match Special – 50 Not Out |last=Baxter |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Baxter (radio producer) |year=2007 |publisher=Woodlands Books Ltd |pages=148–154}}</ref> ''Wisden'' editor [[Matthew Engel]] remarked on Botham's calmness, wit and sagacity as a TV commentator, though admitting he was surprised by it.<ref name=ME>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/9163.html#profile |title=Ian Botham – Profile |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=22 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522024930/http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/9163.html#profile |url-status=live }}</ref>

On 9 August 2009, while commentating on the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley that season, Botham was invited to take part in an on-field ceremony to induct him into the [[ICC Cricket Hall of Fame]] along with former Yorkshire players [[Geoffrey Boycott]], [[Wilfred Rhodes]] and [[Fred Trueman]]. Boycott was also in attendance, along with Fred Trueman's widow Veronica and [[Colin Graves]] who, as [[Yorkshire County Cricket Club]] chairman, accepted the honour on behalf of Wilfred Rhodes. Botham said: "To be named amongst 55 of the most prolific players in cricketing history is a great honour for me. To have my cricketing career recognised in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame is not something I would have thought when I began playing cricket but to be receiving this award today is something I'm extremely grateful for". Colin Graves included Botham in his tribute to Rhodes when he said: "It is a great honour to accept the cap on behalf of a Yorkshire legend. Wilfred Rhodes was an exceedingly gifted player and is rightly regarded as one of England's greatest all-rounders. I am also delighted to see two other great Yorkshiremen and another great all-rounder inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame today".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/11/11070.html |title=Four England players included in Hall of Fame |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=19 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819190138/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Articles/11/11070.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

He was the subject of ''[[This Is Your Life (UK TV series)|This Is Your Life]]'' in 1981 when he was surprised by [[Eamonn Andrews]] during a meeting at [[Lord's]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ian Botham (1981) |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a42cfcf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221226191104/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a42cfcf |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 December 2022 |access-date=2022-12-26 |website=BFI |language=en}}</ref>

On 12 August 1995, Botham was interviewed at length by [[Andrew Neil]] on his one-on-one interview show ''Is This Your Life?'' for [[Channel 4]].<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9800436/?ref_=ttep_ep4 Listing] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213341/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9800436/?ref_=ttep_ep4 |date=26 May 2021 }} on [[IMDb]]</ref>

In 2008 he received a Honorary Doctorate from the [[University of Bath]].

==Peerage==
He was nominated by Boris Johnson for a life peerage in the [[2020 Political Honours]], it being widely reported that the honour was a reward for his support for Brexit.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/national/18591660.sir-ian-botham-set-made-peer-backing-brexit/ | title=Sir Ian Botham 'set to be made a peer for backing Brexit' | date=18 July 2020 }}</ref> He was created '''''Baron Botham''', of Ravensworth in the County of North Yorkshire'' on 10 September<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3631477 |publisher=The London Gazette |access-date=15 September 2020 |title=Crown Office |archive-date=24 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924112502/https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3631477 |url-status=live }}</ref> and took the oath and his seat on 5 October 2020. Botham made his maiden speech on 3 November 2020, and since then has made one further spoken contribution on 25 November 2020 regarding funding in sport, but as of November 2024, no further spoken contributions have been made since.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Lester |first=Nick |date=2024-11-13 |title=Ian Botham 'never at Lords' because he's in Australia |url=https://www.queanbeyanage.com.au/story/8818561/ian-botham-never-at-lords-because-hes-in-australia/ |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=The Queanbeyan Age |language=en-AU}}</ref> While Botham made 61 attendances in 2020, this dropped to two attendances in 2022.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Peter |date=2022-12-19 |title=Evgeny Lebedev's 1% attendance makes him among least active in House of Lords |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/dec/19/evgeny-lebedev-house-of-lords-attendance-among-least-active |access-date=2024-11-13 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> As of November 2024, the parliamentary record shows his last vote in the House of Lords was in July 2021.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4884/contributions|title=Spoken contributions of Lord Botham - MPs and Lords - UK Parliament}}</ref><ref name=":1" />

On 23 August 2021, [[Boris Johnson]] appointed him the UK's Trade Envoy to Australia.<ref>{{cite press release|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-announces-new-trade-envoys-to-boost-british-business-around-the-world|title=PM announces new Trade Envoys to boost British business around the world|website=GOV.UK|date=23 August 2021|access-date=23 August 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Botham is [[colour blind]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/sep/23/cricket.features |title=How balanced is Botham? |work=The Guardian |date=22 September 2006 |access-date=17 August 2019 |archive-date=17 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817101829/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2006/sep/23/cricket.features |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/sport/cricket/article/sir-ian-botham-has-the-looks-the-build-and-the-accent-to-be-the-next-james-bond-dk32t5x03sh |title=Sir Ian Botham has the looks, the build and the accent to be the next James Bond |work=[[The Times]] |access-date=17 August 2019 |archive-date=17 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190817101830/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sir-ian-botham-has-the-looks-the-build-and-the-accent-to-be-the-next-james-bond-dk32t5x03sh |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1976, in [[Doncaster]], Botham married Kathryn ("Kathy") Waller (now Lady Botham) whom he first met in June 1974. They lived in [[Epworth, Lincolnshire|Epworth]], near Scunthorpe, until the late 1980s. They have one son, [[Liam Botham|Liam]] (born August 1977), and two daughters. The family now live in [[Ravensworth]] in [[North Yorkshire]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Botham introduced to House of Lords |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-54418406 |access-date=5 October 2020 |archive-date=6 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006235255/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-54418406 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]'', 26 December 2010, Edition 1; National Edition, "I used to make just £10 a week", p.10</ref><ref>Ian Botham, autobiography, p358</ref> and also own property in [[Almería]], where Botham frequently plays [[golf]].

Botham is an avid trout and salmon fisherman. As a result, he was invited to present a TV series called ''Botham on the Fly''.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/csnz/botham-on-the-fly |title=Botham on the Fly |magazine=Radio Times |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=1 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170901025309/http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/csnz/botham-on-the-fly/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He has also been a team captain on the BBC series ''[[A Question of Sport]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/question_of_sport/qs_history/3042810.stm |title=A Question of Sport |publisher=BBC Sport |access-date=4 May 2017 |archive-date=1 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090201162417/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/question_of_sport/qs_history/3042810.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

Besides angling and golf, Botham enjoys [[Game (hunting)|game shooting]] and owns a grouse moor.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Janssen |first1=Marcus |url=http://www.fieldsportsmagazine.com/UK-Shoots/sawley-north-yorkshire.html |work=Fieldsports magazine |title=Sawley – North Yorkshire |access-date=18 August 2016 |archive-date=14 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160814230813/http://www.fieldsportsmagazine.com/UK-Shoots/sawley-north-yorkshire.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This has resulted in a high-profile dispute with the [[Royal Society for the Protection of Birds]] (RSPB).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/news/sir-ian-botham-threatens-to-sue-44001 |work=ShootingUK |title=Sir Ian Botham threatens to sue "deceptive" RSPB |date=5 June 2015 |access-date=18 August 2016 |archive-date=15 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160815125431/http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/news/sir-ian-botham-threatens-to-sue-44001 |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2016, he called for [[Chris Packham]] to be sacked by the [[BBC]] as part of a campaign funded by the grouse shooting industry, after Packham had highlighted the industry's involvement in the illegal killing of [[endangered species]] of [[bird of prey|birds of prey]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/16/grouse-shooters-kill-first-casualty-is-truth-astroturfing-botham-rspb-packham |title=The grouse shooters aim to kill: the first casualty is the truth |first=George |last=Monbiot |date=12 August 2016 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=17 August 2016 |archive-date=17 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817140649/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/16/grouse-shooters-kill-first-casualty-is-truth-astroturfing-botham-rspb-packham |url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the ''[[New Statesman]]'' in 2015, "Botham is an old-fashioned Englishman [...] he is [[Conservatism in the United Kingdom|conservative]] with a small and [[Conservative Party (UK)|upper-case C]]" and "a robust [[monarchist]]".<ref>{{cite news |last=Henderson |first=Michael |title=An English hero for the ages: Ian Botham at 60 |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/sport/2015/11/english-hero-ages-ian-botham-60 |url-status=live |work=[[New Statesman]] |date=29 November 2015 |access-date=6 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206163009/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/sport/2015/11/english-hero-ages-ian-botham-60 |archive-date=6 December 2019}}</ref> Botham was a staunch supporter of [[Brexit|the UK's withdrawal from the European Union]]. He was quoted: "Personally, I think that England is an island. I think that England should be England. And I think that we should keep that."<ref>{{cite news |last=Bull |first=Andy |title=Ted Dexter and the chequered past of cricketers in the world of politics |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/22/the-spin-ted-dexter-politics-eu-referendum-cricket |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=22 June 2016 |access-date=6 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191206143817/https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/22/the-spin-ted-dexter-politics-eu-referendum-cricket |archive-date=6 December 2019}}</ref> He appeared at a number of pro-Leave campaign events in the run-up to the UK's [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|EU membership referendum in 2016]].<ref>{{cite news |title=EU referendum: Ian Botham on wanting UK Brexit |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-36076383/eu-referendum-ian-botham-on-wanting-uk-brexit |url-status=live |publisher=BBC News |date=18 April 2016 |access-date=31 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801013624/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-politics-36076383/eu-referendum-ian-botham-on-wanting-uk-brexit |archive-date=1 August 2018}}</ref>

Botham's private life has also made occasional dramatic appearances in Britain's tabloid newspapers, with at least one extra-marital affair prompting a public apology to his wife Kathy.<ref>{{cite news |date=8 May 2005 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,1476497,00.html |title=May's 10: Sporting kiss and tell's |work=[[The Observer]] Sport Monthly |accessdate=21 August 2016 |location=London |archive-date=18 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418024141/http://www.theguardian.com/observer/osm/story/0,,1476497,00.html |url-status=live}}</ref> He also fell out publicly with other players, including fellow England player 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]].<ref>{{cite news |date=7 December 2010 |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/theashes/8185931/The-Ashes-2010-Sir-Ian-Botham-and-Ian-Chappell-clash-in-Adelaide-car-park.html |title=The Ashes 2010: Sir Ian Botham and Ian Chappell clash in Adelaide car park |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |accessdate=7 December 2010 |location=London |archive-date=9 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101209034431/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/theashes/8185931/The-Ashes-2010-Sir-Ian-Botham-and-Ian-Chappell-clash-in-Adelaide-car-park.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/current/story/321663.html |title=Botham v Chappell: time for a drink |publisher=Cricinfo |last=Mitchell |first=Kevin |date=December 2007 |accessdate=28 August 2009 |archive-date=8 July 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708045001/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/current/story/321663.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/story/279775.html |title=The feud that rumbles on |last=Williamson |first=Martin |date=10 February 2007 |publisher=Cricinfo |accessdate=28 August 2009 |archive-date=26 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526213349/https://wisden.com/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/278631.html |title='What have you done, what have you done?' |publisher=Cricinfo |date=3 February 2007 |last=Williamson |first=Martin |accessdate=28 August 2009 |archive-date=21 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080921161119/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/story/278631.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/player/19456.html |title=Player Profile: Peter Roebuck |publisher=Cricinfo |accessdate=28 August 2009 |archive-date=13 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213202148/http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/columns/content/player/19456.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Although Botham hoped to resolve his long-running feud with Chappell during a Channel 9 documentary on 27 June 2023, Chappell refused.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm2gYQRTmqA | title=The Longest Feud: Chappell v Botham Ashes 2023 Special | website=[[YouTube]] | date=28 June 2023 }}</ref>

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Barclays |title=Barclays World of Cricket |editor-last=Swanton |editor-first=E. W. |editor-link=E. W. Swanton |publisher=Willow Books |year=1986 |isbn=0-00-218193-2}}
* {{cite book |author1=Ian Botham |author2=Kenneth Gregory |title=Botham's Choice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_qKwPAAACAAJ |year=1982 |publisher=[[William Collins, Sons|Collins]] |isbn=978-0-00-216490-0}}
* {{cite book |author=Ian Botham |title=My Autobiography: Don't Tell Kath |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-91zpwAACAAJ |year=1994 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]]}}
* {{cite book |author1=Ian Botham |author2=Dennis Coath |title=Deep Cover |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XgyQNwAACAAJ |year=1996 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |isbn=978-0-00-649827-8}}
* {{cite book |author=Ian Botham |title=Ian Botham: My Illustrated Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bkJpfQsKAYC |date=2007 |publisher=[[Cassell (publisher)|Cassell]] |isbn=978-1-84403-585-4}}
* {{cite book |author=Ian Botham |title=Head on: The Autobiography |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uHIHF7mSUV0C |year=2008 |publisher=[[Ebury Publishing|Ebury Press]] |isbn=978-0-09-192149-1}}
* {{cite book |author=Ian Botham |title=On Fishing: At Sea, Being Coarse, on the Fly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UcRENAAACAAJ |date=2010 |publisher=[[Orion Publishing Group|Orion]] |isbn=978-0-7538-2633-1}}
* {{cite book |author=Ian Botham |title=Botham's Book of the Ashes: A Lifetime Love Affair with Cricket's Greatest Rivalry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Gbznq1GcWgC |date=2011 |publisher=[[Mainstream Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-84596-905-9}}
* {{cite book |author=Dave Bowler |title=No Surrender: The Life and Times of Ian Botham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sw35HAAACAAJ |year=1997 |publisher=[[Orion Publishing Group|Orion]] |isbn=978-0-7528-0803-1}}
* {{cite book |title=Ian Botham, the great all-rounder |last=Doust |first=Dudley |author-link=Dudley Doust |publisher=[[Panther Books|Granada]] |location=[[St Albans]], Hertfordshire |year=1981 |isbn=0-583-13452-1 |oclc=7247566}}
* {{cite book |title=Ian Botham |last=Farmer |first=Bob |publisher=[[Hamlyn (publishers)|Hamlyn]] |location=[[Feltham]], [[Middlesex]] |year=1979 |isbn=0-600-34917-9 |oclc=6145706}}
* {{cite book |last=James |first=C. L. R. |author-link=C. L. R. James |title=Beyond A Boundary |year=1993 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=0822313839 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/beyondboundary00jame }}
* {{cite book |author=[[Frank Keating (journalist)|Frank Keating]] |title=High, Wide and Handsome: Ian Botham, the Story of a Very Special Year |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DJFEAAAACAAJ |date=1986 |publisher=Willow Books |isbn=978-0-00-218226-3}}
* {{cite book |title=Botham |last=Mosey |first=Don |author-link=Don Mosey |publisher=Guild Publishing |location=London |year=1986 |isbn=0-413-40780-2 |oclc=14131072}}
* {{cite book |title=Botham: a biography |last=Murphy  |first=Patrick |publisher=[[J. M. Dent]] & Sons |location=London |year=1988 |isbn=0-460-04725-6 |oclc=17777058}}
* {{cite book |last=Nyren |first=John |author-link=John Nyren |title=The Cricketers of my Time |editor=Ashley Mote |year=1998 |publisher=Robson}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130529171946/http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/b/1898/Ian%2BTerence.aspx Sir Ian Botham, OBE's Biography], [[Debrett's People of Today]] (archived in 2013)

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{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Somerset cricket captains|Somerset County Cricket Captain]]|years=1984–1985}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[English national cricket captain]]|years=1980–1981}}
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{{s-bef|before= [[Dennis Lillee]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[List of Test cricket bowling records|World Record&nbsp;– Most Career Wickets in Test cricket]]|years= 373 wickets (27.86) in 102 Tests <br> Held record 21 August 1986 to 12 November 1988}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Baron Moylan|The Lord Moylan]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom|Gentlemen]]'''<br />''Baron Botham'' '''}}
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{{England Test cricket captains}}
{{England ODI cricket captains}}
}}
{{Navboxes
|title= Awards and Achievements
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{{All-rounder's Test triple}}
{{Bowlers who have taken 300 or more wickets in Test cricket}}
{{Englishmen with 100 or more Test caps}}
{{ICC Cricket Hall of Fame}}
}}
{{Navboxes
|title= England squads 
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{{England 1979 Cricket World Cup squad}}
{{England 1983 Cricket World Cup squad}}
{{England 1992 Cricket World Cup squad}}
}}
{{BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners}}
{{BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botham, Ian}}
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