England were written off as a team that ‘can’t bat, can’t bowl and can’t field’ but Ian Botham’s century kickstarted a superb win
By Steven Pye for That 1980s Sports Blog
Even by his standards, Ian Botham crammed a lot into the 12 months before the 1986-87 Ashes tour: a charity walk from John O’Groats to Land’s End, an eventful and harrowing trip to the Caribbean, a two-month ban in the English summer after he had admitted smoking cannabis, and his resignation from Somerset after the county had sacked Viv Richards and Joel Garner.
On the field, Botham returned from his ban and showed the nation what they had been missing. Dismissing New Zealand’s Bruce Edgar with the first ball of his comeback, Botham then moved above Dennis Lillee’s world-record haul of 355 Test wickets shortly after. But there was more to come. A stunning 59 not out from just 36 balls demonstrated he still had the ability to entertain. Graham Gooch was right to ask who was writing Beefy’s scripts.