Botham's Ashes

Ian Botham was undoubtedly one of the greatest allrounder on the cricket pitch. He had bowled some outstanding bowling spells and played some match winning knocks for England, but his lethal combination of ball and bat together in a bilateral series was seen in 1981 Ashes. 

1981 Ashes was the 51st edition of this most popular cricket series between Australia and England which the later won by 3-1. Ian Botham played an instrumental role in England's win and hence it is popularly known as Botham's Ashes.

Background

Australia won the first test at Trent Bridge by 4 wickets and second test at Lords ended in a draw. Australia were leading the 6 test match series by 1-0. Before the third test at Headingley, Ian Botham resigned as the captain and he was replaced by Mike Brearley who was called to join the team on a short notice. Botham tenure as a captain in 12 test matches had been winless and he was also struggling for form both as a batsman and as a bowler. 

Return of Botham - 3rd Test at Headingley

Australian captain Kim Hughes won the toss and elected to bat first. Australia declared the innings for 401/9. Botham picked up his first five wicket haul (6/95) but his best was yet to come. In return, England team was bowled out for paltry 174 and suffered follow on. Ian Botham scored 50 and remained the top scorer for England in the first innings. 

In the second innings, England were struggling for 105/5 when Botham joined the crease. English team still needed 122 runs to avoid innings defeat. Botham played an innings of his lifetime and along with the lower order batsman not only saved the follow on but also gave a ray of hope for the home side. He shared eighth wicket partnership of 117 with Graham Dilley, 67 with Chris Old for the ninth and 37 with Bob Willis for the tenth, to set Australia a target of 130. Botham remained unbeaten on 149. The innings caught so much attention across the cricket fraternity and still is at No.4 in Wisden greatest Test batting performances.

With a strong batting line-up of, 130 was easy target for Australia specially after 56/1. However, destiny had planned something else for the English team. Bob Willis who was not even considered fit for the match bowled the magical spell of 8/43 and won the match for his team. Australia were dismissed for 111 falling behind 18 runs short of the target. Bob Willis performance is at No.8 in Wisdon's greatest bowling performances. England also became the second team since 1894-95 to win a test match after following on.

Botham was adjudged Man of the match for his brilliant allround performance.

​Botham at his best - 4th Test at Edgbaston
​
​In a low scoring test match, ​England set Australia a target of only 151 in the fourth innings. Australia 
​were going comfortably towards the target with 105/4 when ​Botham took five ​wickets ​for a solitary run, to end Australia's second innings at 121 and give England victory by 29 runs. Botham final bowling figures were 5/11.​

Botham continued his dominance -  5th Test at Old Trafford

Botham smashed 86 balls century in the second innings to post mammoth target of 505 for Australia in the fourth innings. Later on with the ball he picked 2 wickets in the second innings to won the test for England by 103 runs. 

Botham form was back - 6th Test at The Oval

The final test ended in a draw with Botham taking 10 wickets in the match.

Botham Overall Performance in the series:

Matches - 6, Innings - 12, Not Out - 1, Runs - 399, 100s - 2, 50s -1, Avg. - 36. 27, SR - 93.22, Wkts - 34, 5w - 3, 10w - 1, Avg. - 20.58, SR - 48

Man of the Match - 3

Ian Botham was awarded Man of the series after such a terrific performance with the bat and the ball.

Sahir