Ian Botham and the West Indies

[fredfertang]

Ian Botham and the West Indies

Was Sir Ian Botham's record against West Indies quite as bad as it looks on paper? In this feature Gareth Bland weighs up the evidence

By Gareth Bland

[BoyBrumby]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but for UK based readers there's a docu on Botham & 1981 and all that (tangentially related as it was his Phoenix from the Windies flames moment) on ITV4 tonight at 8pm.

[stumpski]

Yeah, was just going to post the same thing here but you beat me to it. Has it been on before? Strange to see it on an ITV channel tbh, they haven't had much to do with cricket over the years.

[watson]

Since the article mentions Botham and Allan Lamb it is interesting to contrast the two batsman. Botham of course never reached triple figures against the WI pace-attack but Lamb hit 6 centuries.

Consequently, I think that it was Botham's technique with the bat that let him down. While Botham employed an exaggerated swing with a high backlift and follow through Lamb tended to be the opposite and punch the ball with perfect timing and minimal force. In other words he let the pace of the ball do the work.

I think it is this ecomomy of effort, with its larger margin for error, that allowed Allan Lamb to succeed where Botham couldn't.