In Conversation with Ian Botham

[Music] [Music] I'm chasing it [Music] [Applause] and now he really is gonna go he smash that miles it's gone away over the top of deep squarely and he's hit that one straight down the ground too is [Music] is running competin wickets and catches [Applause] all the [Applause] that's it this time Mitchell is dating photo Vegas he grabs herself in your abundance of natural talent and unquestionable enthusiasm for the game at an early age did not go unnoticed your dad said to you at 18 you got to play for Somerset and before 25 you got to play for England yeah and he said someone was about 14 yeah actually those words came out I had to make a decision between playing soccer or football as we call it with the rest of the world calls it soccer with that round ball or cricket and my father sends me and said look those exact words you're a better cricketer than you are footballer and set yourself some targets and this is what you go for 1977 the old enemy Australia in England you select it for England now your first two Test matches you get five wickets in an innings in each Test match in fact in the first test match it was on the first day now when you go through it but yeah an hour actually my first day at HS West 1965 at Lord's I never troubled the scorers are so nervous tell me about those first two Test matches we we had great conditions to bowler Headingley that was the second game where I broke my foot in the first game where it all kicked off it was a momenta there we lost the toss so around the field and I think that was the best thing that happened because suddenly you know that sit around and think about it you're out in the field you're into the game the Queen came along to that match and met the Queen so it was a bit surreal the whole game and picked up the wickets first ball back in the second spell bowled an absolute Jaffa to Greg Chappell wide long hot which he went to cut and chopped it onto the stumps and and then picked up Dougie Walters rod Marsh David hooks and end up with Pfeiffer and it was a feral baptism but the eventual game I think with the Queen going there first Test match it's it's still quite hazy the next game up at Leeds I remember more clearly and we went there and it was fantastic conditions to ball for a swing ball it hooped around as you know youself nobody that leads if you get overcast conditions you Bowl you don't even consider it and it went around it it nipped about picked up five remember one of the wickets was down the leg side Alan not rod Marshall I think it was played off his legs terrific he anticipated and then went full stretch and got it one-handed and but the only thing was the only sad part of that game was I actually broke my foot stepping on the ball but the good thing about that was that introduced me to leukemia which is to go over my life for quite a long time after that on the first day or the first test met Brian Clough's your captain somes had calls the day what impact did he have on your career LeBron Klaus we sadly buried him not long ago a few months ago and I was given the honour of reading the eulogy and it was something I would have wanted to do didn't need to be asked that guys set might have set me up Brian Clough's as a captain as a person he was an honorable man he was a fierce competitor he never asked you to do anything that he couldn't I hadn't done fearless at short leg as a field of fearless as a batsman everyone remembers the West Indian attack and him taking the blows on the body and then of course later on in his career when he was 44 years of age he gets another dose of the West Indies the michael holdings and i hear these guys and he comes back he's battered 31 close it's got to be a must of bruises when he eventually gets poked into the Haven of the Pavillion Brown close he was the first to pull you down if you did something wrong rip you down bring you back to ground very quickly but he was equally the first guy to buy a drink after he'd given you the biggest roasting of your life and he said come on lad that's it let's have a chat now what about tomorrow what are you gonna do and that was the kind of guy he was the only thing he didn't want to do with closely time without it you did not want to get in the car with him why there's junior Pro I had to travel with him quite a lot now closely if you can imagine someone gave me it was one of this it was a sponsored year for and he had a Ford Capri now why someone gave him a Ford Capri I don't know but I'm saying the passenger seat and it was a central console here and then the central console you would have the flask with the pot of tea you know the tea in the flask all ready to go sugar the milk then next to that you'd have the beef sandwiches wrapped up and then you'd have 60 Benson & Hedges eaters over three hours the journey and the window halfway down and the newspaper now he doesn't that newspaper he added the broad sheet of the sporting life and if you're just reading the headlines I might've relaxed a bit but it was actually reading the form which is this size and we're doing 80 in the outside lane so that was his major fault I used to petrify me I never get sometimes you get in a car and you think I have a little doze here for an hour to no chance you watch the road for every split second but closely as a man and I couldn't fault him to me he was almost like a father figure and he always wanted you to play at your best and if that meant that he had to he felt he needed to put you right somewhere he would do it and viv and I grew up together Viv Richards and he wasn't a bad player and viv and I grew up with Brian close as our mentor and our leader our captain I think if it was sitting next to me now saying was it the first to actually say and agree with you or with me and say Brian Clough's if it wasn't for you we probably wouldn't be where we are now 1978 the Test match at Lord's Pakistan you get a century and 84 34 in the second innings would this be one of your best ever Test matches yeah I think in those days it's sort of set the standard that raised the bar and made me had to think about performing to that level the hundred I can remember hundred handlers fine it's a great wiki it's the belting wicked they didn't do much but for some reason the next day it was not a cloud in the sky which you don't get too often in England not a cloud in the sky at Lord's warm day and the bore for no apparent reason I've never understood the science of a cricket ball swinging we've tried all kinds of experience my father did with wind tunnels at Westland helicopters there is no logical reason but that morning it looked all over the place I bowled probably one of the best lives i've ever bowled it pitched outside leg and actually took middle and off stump out the ground 8:34 no one expected it we didn't expect it didn't do it in the net in the morning well I apparently it didn't do it in the next in the morning but we went out there in the middle and it just went from the word go just swung all over the place it was yeah a bit freakish 1980 you 25 you made captain of England 12 Test matches no one's but to be fair to you play the West in his 10th times and the they were dominant unbeatable on reflection would you say that you weren't ready for it what you didn't want it when you're 24 going on 25 and someone comes along and says to you the highest accolade that we can bestow upon you as a cricketer for England is the captain so you take it you take it you don't even think about it of course I'd love to do it with hindsight which is a great thing probably did come two or three years too early hard times for both him the Wonder Boy image has deserted him after a year of in different form in stark contrast to his dramatic arrival on the test scene three years ago those who saw him climb so quickly are now watching him fall and their things little doubt that he future is an England player let alone captain is on the line in the theory maybe I would have made a better job of it at 26 27 but having said that we lost 1 nil and 2 nil in 210 matches 5 at home and 5 away and not 5 mil 5 mil as it went on to be they were in my opinion that side the best West Indian team of all time and I think the best Test side of all time he will say oh well they'd never spinner well when the hell was the spinner gonna Bowl he was just never needed he was never one to fall quits well and for 8 more waiting to get their chance they just had a pool of quick bowlers when you think that people like Malcolm Marshall have to wait to get in so I said o'clock yeah so the club wayne Daniel hardly got a game when that team was at its best and they'd have all played in any other Test side they were magnificent passing line up pains and Greenwich Richards character and Lloyd it just goes on dude Jean coming in at about 7 or 8 Derek money before it Derek money for Murray before and you had all these players that they were just an amazing team so 1 nil to nil I was quite pleased well in that same year you go to Mumbai you not captain it's one of tests match your the first career to get a century and 10 wickets in a test batch jubilee chess match yeah we just had a really hard tour of Australia on the way home we stopped off in Mumbai for this Test match one off I think the team we partied a little bit and we enjoyed the fact that we're on our way home one going to go and I can't say it was probably my best preparation for a test that I didn't sleep very much at all everyone was just on a high going home and yeah we beat 14 with his 13 wickets wherever it was I bowled all the overs I think bar one at one end in the test mat right and got a hundred yeah but and it's quite nice what was quite a nice the Aussies were on route as well and they stayed over and they came to the game I mean there must have been something better to do at Mumbai than come watch us play cricket but they actually came and watched the cricket there and I was sat with them for a bit during that game and everyone was just chilled after such a hard ashes series I think everyone just was enjoyed each other's company there was no I grow there was no bitterness there's no snide remark so yeah it was it was a very relaxed Test match 1981 Aziz in England the second Test match he got a duck in the first innings and duck in the second innings as you go through the members pavilion David Gow tells me you could have heard a pin drop a stony silence you resign but it would appear that they were Gant replaces captain would that have been the worst moment in your whole Test career yeah I think so and it was also the most confusing moment because the problem I had al you you've captained to numerous life but when you captain you need some kind of foundation to work with and Alok bed Serna selectors in those days decided and thought it was a very good idea to just give me one test at a time and to see if he's any good which is ludicrous it would never happen nowadays it can't happen and after two tests are playing under this and I thought we done reasonably well in the West Indies to come back with results like that and then to actually have the situation where they'd given me one game at a time it's unfair on me was unfair on my family and it was also very unfair on the dressing room because no one knew where we're going so at the end of the second Test I felt right enough of this I went and I called the chairmen met him in the shower room at the back of the dressing room and I said look I can't go on like this I think you're not giving me a chance I said I'm resigning as of this moment he said okay fine understand went back in the dressing room called all the boys in the end of the game and said right this is what's happened lads resigned I felt that I wasn't getting support that it was necessary from the lectors and we committed above that that's a professional life so you've got to tear off the smooth and I I just felt feel that it's the best for everybody and whoever takes over the job I wish them all the best and I hope that I can be a member of that team and the rest they say is history the only thing I can never forgive Alec been support was at the end of the match when they interviewed him and they said well he's resigned and you just turn around to him so what we're going to suck him anyway and I thought that's below the belt here and unnecessary totally unnecessary it's it's terrible to have to tell people there they're not required but he made it a lot easier to because he he approached the whole thing as a as I thought he would there's a there's a man you know he's a great champion and I've got every respectful I think he'll come back again probably Captain England and that really showed me proved to me a little bit just how far removed he was from the game at that moment in time well it's got a hidden me the third test probably your greatest test match you score 149 not out or 448 balls in the second innings where England Warren bar 18 runs having been a hundred thirty-five for seven in the second innings after falling on 227 runs behind take me through it here well would you start the I start right at the beginning Mike Brady was appointed captain and might really came up to me at the Nets the day before and he counts and he put his arm around me and he said do you want to play and I said yeah of course I want to play signal Australia he said I thought you'd say that I hoped you'd say that he said I think you'll get you'll get 10 wickets in the match and you'll get a hundred runs and I sort of hope you're right and brilliance was always pretty shrewd he got it pretty much close on but I always tell the story I on that and I think it's people have to remember that we'd actually written ourselves off after three days the rest day and I invited all the Australian team over to my house which became a bit of a tradition the whole Australian team yeah the Australian team with the England team and we had a the Marquis was up and we had a big barbecue going and the Aussie boys walked down the driveway with a slab of beer every shoulder and I think we won that Test match really at about 3 a.m. that moring morning when we beat them in the scrum down in the marquee but it went back to the ground and we checked into our hotels then we checked out on the way out on Monday morning thinking that's it we're all over we've done and dusted here yeah what a triumph for him it would be if he could still be betting at 6 o'clock this evening [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yes [Applause] smile [Music] between Deadland chasing it [Applause] it's going straight into the confectionary stolen out again to spend a hundred great innings by Ian Bochum as everyone knows we had to go back to the evening him had to rebook in to the hotel and we went out there and we win the game Bob Willis Bowles ate for 43 having about 14 overs or something off off the real coming down the hill everything is running for both them runs wickets and catches great fielding got some great catching taken graham dilly Mike Gatting nothing was dropped in Australia there 54 1 chasing that and he picks out a couple of quick wickets and we always said that on this pitch it wasn't a very good pitch if you get one or two quick wickets who knows you can put them under pressure and as it turned out we put under pressure and they collapse is one of the most fantastic victories ever known in Test cricket history but there's a nice little side story to all that there's a guy that a lot of people in South Africa now called Ricky Roberts now Ricky Roberts who was then 14 was over on a working scholarship and he was given the job had been the England restroom attendant and Ricky Roberts who then of course went on to carry any else's bag to two majors one of the one of the best caddies in modern times but Ricky's it was sent at the end of the game because Australians had all the champagne and the frig whom there wasn't and in that bath who was none for us so I said to him I said listen Ricky just snip through there knock on the door and just say to those guys look you don't need the champagne can the England boys have it and being a naive 14 year old he goes over he knocks on the door and the next thing Ricky Roberts comes through our dressing room door flat he is absolutely flat he's come through like a torpedo and Ricky's never forgiven me for that to this day that's a no it was it was sort of stuff that it's Roy of the rover's it's a sort thing you reading a comic it never really happens but it did happen and it was probably the most remarkable Test match it stopped the House of Commons is stopped the city centre of Glasgow would you believe in Scotland it had an enormous effect on everybody in the country because England's going through a pretty horrendous time at that stage we had the race riots we had half of the country burning we had the miners strike it was a pretty unpleasant time for a lot of people and I think that game came at just the right time he gave everybody a boost not just the players but of course the public and it changed my life in the fourth chase you get five wickets for one run England won again [Applause] he's helped LBW second attempt and Bob Taylor grabbed it miss Ballou truly is going to be it a joyous triumphant both of their inflation that's it this time the picture who is taking photo because he grabs herself the last test match you get a 118 in 102 balls even one again six and fittingly they gave both in the room to play his strokes here they're doing it again and he smushed them for a quick 50 good shot didn't expanding over the road never going to go to a sex what a superlative exhibition this has been and I think what you're in England chief didn't was unbelievable yeah it was it was a pretty remarkable series you know there was great points the the old trafford innings the hundred there was probably as well as I played there there and Brisbane in 86 seven or 85 six which or where was that innings that one there and I think the five four one actually in fairness the crowd edge wisdom should have three of those with it because it's not called the bullring for nothing and the atmosphere there I think got to the Australians so they think they just some crowd can have three of those five nineteen eighty five eighty Sixers and a season now it's not t20 cricket yeah it's not 50 other cricket it's first-class cricket well we play a Taunton love our career and it's the belt or with you I'm sure you play the early it's a flat wicket small ground and I was just in that kind of mood I thought that was quite tired so I from a lot of cricket and I soft thought well let's just go the aerial root as much as possible and not do too much running so it's him and that was the ground to do it yeah we should got a lot of runs but summerling averaged nearly a hundred in first-class cricket it was it is the place to do it if you're going to do it Taunton was the ground and I had a couple of good players at the other end to take the pressure off me you know it's always a bit of rivalry between viven myself we used to always want to get the fastest first-class under each season there was a bit of a contest there so yeah it was it was a great summer yeah and you played for Somerset 1973 to 1987 right the end your great friend vivir it is sec and Joel garner you now go to Wooster what happened I will always remember that day I knew it was happening there was a big groundswell and put together by one person Peter Roebuck who was intent he wanted the captaincy he had this he wanted to be the Guru he wanted a young team and I saw it coming and his okay his main opponents too that were three players live rich is Joel garner myself who would have stood up and fought a corner and viv and Joel contracts were not renewed which was mind-blowing and he took them two of the best players at Somerset have ever had we hadn't wanted anything for a hundred and odd years and one other nice six seven eight trophies in a very short period of time and that was down a lot of the time to Joel garner Viv Richards and yourself yeah and and a couple of them I mean that some of the other boys played a big part but yeah that was the nucleus and I I said to them they said it came to me said well we want you to stay at Somerset I said under no circumstances will I be here next season if what I think you're doing happened and sure enough it happened we don't know the way for some secret we want to play for Somerset we want to see Somerset winning things maybe if the committee signed a few players to help us it would have helped over the last few years it's they're sitting on their backsides and they didn't think until the very last innings I played for Somerset at Taunton when I got out I walked in the middle of the pitch and I saluted every corner thanked him all and walked off the pitch and then when the penny dropped they realized that I was going as well and it was a very sad day and I think the Somerset supporters were robbed of certainly another two or three years of one of the best teams through one man's obsession with the captaincy and he was a bright intelligent man and a great manipulator and he manipulated the people I think that made those decisions and we all know what happened to Somerset from that point on downhill and the to go decide good - it's to the ground it's too good a set up and it's got too good of supporters not to be one of the top sites in the country and they should be back whether that's where they should be back at the top in a great stellar career your performances against the West Indies if you play them 20 times lost 13 times won one in 1991 well one thing I counted came out without any broken serious bones and not in a bit not in a wooden box so I did pretty well I reckon against that lot they were that they were the best and I try to take him on and I thought you were to try and show aggression and take the game back to them but when there's four of them lining up to give you a battery it perhaps wasn't the right tactic but yeah I wouldn't have swapped that I enjoyed playing against those guys I love playing against them they are the best and the thing if you want to be with the best you need to compete with the best and I remember watching Ellen lamb at the other end and I think he scored seven or six seven hundred three hundreds in one series but I think overall he might have got six or seven against him his record was amazing against the West Indians and I said to him you know why honey he said why what I said because you're only five foot I said because I can cut and pull all day long I said don't get burned go full-bore so you got your courage everything cleansed and you can cut it he played magnificently he was I don't think I've ever seen anyone else play that side as well there's Allen lamb did but it wasn't to be for me 60s across 70s or 80s but never got a hundred against him I suppose one thing I'll have a regret for the rest of my career because I'm a bit old to put it right now in the create World Cup star in 1975 11 times England have not wanted once we should have won it in 92 we were the best team on display and that World Cup we played it we did too much create for being seen to do it net practice when we should have had were an older team we should have had time away go swimming go to the beach go playing golf knock Nets after Nets after Nets and that was the way the regime operated in those days which was sad because we should have won that World Cup we were by far the best side in every single game up to retirement we had a couple of horrendous decisions go against us and which cost us dearly when Pakistan were batting Javid and Imran Khan were both absolutely all over Red Rover in front of the stumps got away with it twice no DRS sadly and then was he macron bold for over spell which is as good as anything I've seen in World Cup under the circumstances he came in Allen lamb was playing well he bowled him a ball from around the wicket that pitched about middle and hit the top of off and their very next poorly up Chris Lewis of a big in swinger and we almost got home but I actually felt after I sat there and I thought that was our chance and we should have made more of it we were a bit tired by the end of the final but having said that I think you're playing a couple of World Cup finals no we haven't want it will you win it yeah we will Ian you say is England were the best team the World Cup I'll tell you South Africans will not agree with you tell me about that semi file in Sydney which you shouldn't have won well if you actually look at the rules which weren't made up on the rain buyers that all you they were made up in Australia we would have beaten Pakistan because we bowled him out for 72 at the Adelaide Oval and we're something like 30 or 40 for one and they got a point each now that there's no logic to that whatsoever and that wouldn't happen now so we would have won that game Pakistan wouldn't have been through and we wouldn't apply South Africa in the court semi-finals been the other way around but that set up again the 22 twin from seven volts we got a strange situation here because Alan Jordan has just come back to me and said that the umpires have come back to him and the change that decided there was only one ball remaining and they score board finally confirming you're walking back out after that rainbow at the scg and I'm walking out with bran Macmillan who's a great friend for many years and I walk out the macker and I said - good luck let me just work out I can't repeat what he said but he went out there but that should never have been the situation that the rule that need to say those laws for the rain rules would dismiss straight away at the end of the World Cup and never used again so it should have been a totally different scenario might have been England South Africa in the final but is still one but we might live in yeah but no that was nothing to feel sorry for all teams involved there because Pakistan would've gone through Australia went out so yeah the rules were I don't know how they came to the conclusion to come up with that scenario but it didn't work in it it might have actually changed the outcome of that World Cup Tokyo's Christmas to buy the final delivery it's pushed away to meet wicked you seen all the plans are disappointed with the man the cricket ground disappointing these two wonderful match disappointed professor Wright and the South intensified very well at the end the weather baked them [Music] Dougy in seoul has been a very good friend of mine for many years he tells me not a story of your first trip to New Zealand in 1978 it's a particular test math shift boycotters captain it's the fourth day's batting and he's betting pretty slowly and you need a big quick lead to give you time to bother New Zealand we actually were one-nil down the series play the first test in Wellington got beaten we just got off a plane from Pakistan and we got well and truly beaten didn't we play poorly to be honest and then but we had a team meeting and we sat there in the dressing room afterwards we said look we've got to win the next game in Christchurch because the third and final games can be played in Auckland that's the feather bed and also the weather is inclement at that time of the year so team taught all-out attack and we got up to Christchurch and to cut a long story short New Zealand just avoided the follow-on and England have a lead of about a hundred and eighty we had about 30 odd overs to go on the fourth day and the whole of the last day I don't natey ahead we thought we can get to 300 quickly we can get to 320 and the wicket was starting to deteriorate a little uneven turning a bit that should be more than enough without bowling attack problem was that when Geoffrey went out after about how many overs 1011 overs he was about three knots out look at that playing magnificently Geoffrey but no he so I was in the dressing room and Derek Randall got told a pack had up and I was told to Pat up as well by the vice-captain Bob Wallace yeah our Gd Willis is right you two get ready there we go don't Randall he went in first wicket went down like this Brian Rose got out then he goes and don't Randall if you remember the city the instance he was backing up as we're all taught to and you and Chatfield ran into bowl and man CAD him without any warning so that didn't in prove the team spirit or the from our point of view certainly so I walk out at the bat and I'm just leaving the dressing room and I got a tap on the shoulder from Bob Willis and he just looked me straight in the eyes and he said when you get out there run him out I believe that I said hang on no sir that's the Geoffrey out there playing his hundredth test match or whatever it was I said you know I'm playing my third and he looked at me and he said if you don't do it you won't play your fourth so out I go and it's absolute restore and I get out there to the middle and end of the over take guard pushed it into the covers yes no sorry and boys didn't speak to me for about three weeks so there's always a bonus and at but we won that game we went on and won it but the funny thing I always remember about winning it we want it by mid-afternoon but running in with the new ball for my country when the captain stood at cover saying to mid off you ask him if he wants another slip I'm not speaking to another but now that was true Duggar I mean everybody knew and that you look around the ground and everybody knew all that happened and Geoffrey I don't think he's ever really forgive me but but it happened and we won the game we level the series and the series stayed like that because the weather did take apart and oK you've said the falling Aussies are big and empty like a country just like the country if you play against the Aussies you don't walk definitely no no you don't walk you don't even dream of walking playing county cricket where you're playing it's professionals on a circuit with the umpires you walk what I did I walk because they're going to get you if you decide to play it the other way then anytime there's any doubt it's going to go against you and I felt that that was the way to play it in county cricket then test curry I started off playing exactly that same way and then you start to learn very quickly the Australians have either I don't respect him for I'd have a problem the tall but don't wings if you get a bad one if you survived a couple of good ones and Australians in general didn't moan about it they accepted it but I just used to say the guys lads unless the stump is out the ground and all the wicket keepers dive through a brick wall I said I think you stay there and let the umpire make a decision he said the following about Ian Chappell he was a coward he needed a crowd around him before he would say anything he was out like milk that had been sitting in the Sun for more than a week yeah which sounds about right Alec you know I look at all the people in the world I play cricket with there's only one person that I've just never got on with and that's see in Chapel it's no skin off my nose it's no skin off his nose I don't send him a Christmas card he doesn't send me a Christmas card and we beg to differ and it's not going to change right now you are leading our news bulletin with an alleged freckie with William beefy both them and yourself in the car park it was there was some words spoken in the car park I'm a parenting painted as the instigator I'd accept 50% of the plane but certainly not the instigator and as far as the rest of the rubbish is concerned about you know having each other by the throat and having to be pulled apart that another one of those fairy tales I was talking about I thought I think sometimes in the mornings he gets up on a bright sunny day and kicks the end of the bed to just feel a bit more grumpy in besides you illustrious career as a Great Creator your fundraising charity events for leukemia research unbelievable you've raised more than 12 million pounds well it all started in 77 as I mentioned right at the top of the show Eddy when I broke my foot against the Australians ship down to Taunton to get it fixed most growth Park hospitals to get to the physio department you had to walk through the children's department and when you see children who obviously ill they're strapped up or the legs are raised or those tubes there was none of that with these four lads they were just sat round a board playing a board game and I said to the doc I said David I said these guys just visiting your brother's you know some of the other 20 said no they've suddenly got a thing called leukemia meant nothing to me and he explained to me that in laymen terms it's cancer of the blood in those days children had a 20% chance of survival with the most common form of leukemia and he said to me that you know they're your treatments going to take six to eight weeks and you'll be coming every day for that he said but these children will probably not be here at the end of that treatment period and sure enough they weren't and that sort of shocked me a bit and I said well what can cath and I do can we do something to help and he said well we do have a party we hold a party for the children when they're about to pass away because with all the painkillers they don't know is their birthday it's Christmas it's Easter it doesn't matter the party but we don't get any help with the funding and I said well look let Katherine I you know it will pay for the parties and so we started paying for the parties and this went on for quite a few years and I thought that's a bit in the negative what can we do on the other side and the positive and we came up with the idea eventually and it came about I've sat on a train going down to London I read a color supplement in a newspaper and it was about an eccentric old lady called dr. Barbara Watson who used to get on a train on the south coast of England at the start of every summer and then go all that to the most northerly point of the UK John O'Groats and then spend the summer walking back so I thought sponsored walk that's what we'll do and to give you an inclination my wife thought I'd say something sensible like Cape Town to stellenbosch and I blurted out well I'm going to do John O'Groats to Land's End and there's a few strange looks in the room when I announced it to the press and then give you an idea how poor my geography was I didn't realize it's 400 miles from John O'Groats just to the English border and then you've got another 600 miles so we undertook a thousand-mile walk first time up no one else I think has ever done it at the rate we were doing it we did it in 34 or 35 days it's like Johannesburg to Cape Town it's about a thousand miles so we did it in 34 days 35 days and not only that once we actually end up doing it twice but that's another story and I blurted this out so off we went we had no idea what we're going to do we didn't know where to put the Vaseline to stop the chafing we learnt by trial and error and we got to the end they caught the whole country's imagination we raised well over a million pounds which went to the research centre which is just outside Glasgow and the reason we keep on doing it is to fund that but also because that 20% chance of survival is now 94% and in 30 years to make that much of a difference with a form of cancer makes you wonder what we could do with other forms of cancers and hopefully there'll be a knock-on effect that's why we keep doing it we've done this this walking South could be the sixteenth we've done but the ones we still do a lot of stuff in the UK but when we come abroad we do it for charities in South Africa or as we did probably years ago in Sri Lanka in you were knighted in 2007 see and both them tell me about your day at Buckingham Palace Joe I've had a lot of great moments in my life I've been very lucky a lot of wonderful highs where there's cricket the walks etc etc but I have to say that Buckingham Palace in 2007 was probably the highlight it was the icing on the cake to be honest it's an interesting process the process you go through because I got notified that I've been awarded it but then you have to keep quiet for six weeks you know I have to say a word to anybody until the letter pops through the letterbox and then you just acknowledged because then it's released to the press so those six weeks are really tough so I told my wife obviously cath I told cath and I told my two oldest children Liam and Sarah but I didn't tell anybody else I couldn't tell my mother the old world wouldn't know longer than about five minutes of my mother had found out so you kept that quiet which was difficult and then the big day arrives and you can take three guests so I took my two oldest grandsons and I thought that'd take half so the three of us go along to the Buckingham Palace the boys are all in their outfits all tailored suits long morning suits and they would have been about eight and fourteen something like that in those days and they go along and if you can see the boys faces light up suddenly all I've seen in these books about Buckingham Palace now they're inside Buckingham Palace and they go off and you arrive and they get filtered off for coffee and biscuits into a room I get taken to another room to show the protocol of the day and basically get shown what to do so when it comes to the ceremony there in the gallery I come through and the second person to go up and there's a long queue and gives a hundred and ninety-nine people to be done that day from all walks of life and all kinds of awards so very it's a great day it's a lovely atmosphere and I get there and I've been told what to do and effectively when you walk in it's a square and the Queen's in the middle of the square this side so you come in here you get to this point you turn to the Queen you bow and then you walk to the center turn bow and then you walk in and then the Queen will tell you to kneel and ceremony is carried out and then you stand up and then the Queen will engage you in conversation and it was very interesting she didn't she don't talk about cricket she said tell me about the charity work and what's going on there had a quite a long conversation of the Queen which seemed an eternity which what a moment what a moment how good is this and then you know the interviews over the Queen will offer you a hand you share the hand and you bow you reverse back to the tee box there you turn salute now go down to the far corner before you exit in the turn bow and then go out when I got to the far corner oh bloody hell - nearly forgot how to turn and bowed and the Queen was just laughing at me far Elfi go in there you do the press and the end of the press you go and sit with you children and wife and I sit there with the grandchildren and Catherine the eldest grandchild that's out zero said grandad you nearly messed that up yeah and I thought that was pretty remarkable from a fourteen-year-old to aggress that but it was just a great day we went to Lourdes the MCC laid it on we had champagne and canapés for about 200 people exactly they had the on the big scoreboard there it was Sir Ian both and congratulations suddenly and it was a wonderful day and then the evening we had dinner for about 40 close family and friends in the library and this was all courtesy of the MCC as a thank you for everything over the years it was an emotional day but not just for myself but for the family and also a lot of this was due to the charity work that we've done so all the crew were there and for those people it was what they deserved as well so it was a very special day sadly my father didn't make it but he passed away just before that our mother did she had a great day and it was just lovely to see all my friends from sport and friends from at home at North yeah very special probably well deserved um thank you in your career 1973 to 1993 as a player there on till 2015 as a world class TV commentator so you've probably seen more international career than anybody during that period South African creators your best batsmen the best bowler your best all-rounder well Jack Kawasaki we fall into two of those categories on his own but I think also grahame-smith at the top of the order I think he set up particular in his early days when he scored hundreds it got big hundreds that tour of England where he just kept on to getting couple nice like South Africa win the match South Africa win the series iconic effort programs make the captivity I think now a be de villiers is right up there an innings are absolute excellence in every way but I would say over that period of time baby's relatively young in his career in comparison I'll go a grahame-smith or rounded Jack Allison [Applause] back south african superstar no contest best bowler that's a tough one Shaun Pollock Dale Steyn 200 wickets in Test match cricket for Dale Steyn he's the fourth fastest of all time in terms of matches I wouldn't mind having either in my team Alan Donald ad express pace [Applause] depends on playing I'll take all three of you of me and that depends on the wicket Alan Donald's gotta be right up there though Sean Polish guy up there in Dale Steyn but as it's more my vintage and I saw more than play will go with I like quick bowlers Allan Donald but Polly's right behind him you're now will select her your best batsmen currently playing from 1973 till today all right we're good Richards you'd be in the side we've by far he's the best bestest ever live in ER than session yeah bestest ever look back in my opinion ever ever ever why do you say that because he had apt to do every form of the game Don Bradman only played one form of the game I'm not saying he couldn't have adapted but we'll never know viv Richards we know could adapt and did adapt and against the modern bowlers when you look at the pace bowlers have been around and the concentration of haste bowlers in that period of time they're Richards your best spin bowler shame or Nothing man from Sri Lanka - a Morton [Music] first of all [Applause] I think he has bowled around his legs Shane Warne has everything he makes it go the doorways and he was at his best he was the that best leg spinner the nearest I saw him as a leg spinner would have been Abdul Qadeer but Shane Warne for me you'll piss fast Perla la me and they're all fully fit we'll be one of the West Indians and you know I might surprise someone a few people here on all surfaces I would take Joel garner when he was fully fit is almost unbearable out there at the moment for a betting point of view and he's gone this time Madonna's appeal answered in his favor and both of his out obw 481 Lauren the other people I've interviewed thrown up the name of awesome huh Crum was the macrons right up there the so lucky unis so is Malcolm Marshall but on all conditions all pitches because not many people both from tendon are feet up so he was always a handful and when he was fit he was as quick as any of them jog on this world all-rounder I think I played there was a great competition between Hadley Richard Hadley advising in both metal plate Marcin round the wicked visiting Sheldon Evans hammered him again [Applause] mr. Holden spiders and inside and he goes again oh my word blouson there's a real competition there since then Jacques Kallis would have to be up there [Applause] [Music] back-to-back beautiful it's been fantastic South Africa's good this cricket [Applause] [Music] and also from the way his teammates come out of the change in to come and receive a back he just saying thank you [Music] Wasim Akram didn't get the runs in the volume of runs but he would have he Malcolm Marshalls can sit himself around there I wasn't arguing [Music] very difficult during the past week I've spoken to David Garr and I've spoken to Mike Proctor during your era there are 3 other great all-rounders in one car Kapil Dev and Richard Headley and I said to him you know with he and burthen who was the best of them and why well they first hit three things about you that your self belief was unbelievable well it wouldn't be me to say that we couldn't with it I know the question 3 November 3 - for the players still say we could do it so obviously we know six needed it was desperate stuff the crowd were near hysteria and England nearly frantic then both them bolted Thompson the snick shot to Tavarez twitching hands up flew the ball but Miller was there and England had won by just three runs Delirium for England despair for Australia it was a fittingly extraordinary and - one of the most incredible Test matches ever witnessed and most important England were back in the ashes remind me of the lake lares he - never thought will believe that he could lose a match number two they tell me that you played by instinct working out a change from the nets what happened out there by instinct in the Epis it plays that shot very well and thirdly you play created as though you an Australian or South African very attacking positive all the time [Applause] that was just about the best shot vocals played today and now he really is gonna go he smashed that miles it's gone away over the top of deep square leg they put your head off those other three and I think the two determining factors was one your slip catching 120 catches in 102 test mentions but my proctor made the point that single handily you warned more test matters in mind and the other three [Applause] and they put you ahead of Inman congra - Who am I to argue do they send me up correctly yeah I think it's a pretty good description I did have an enormous self - I was never out I think that's better that's just a mental game I love Fielding I love cats that fielding and I'd love the attacking the game and most of my life I remember one innings that the over I batted all day for fifty but that was under exceptional circumstances but now I always want felt that the best form of defence was attack ad no fee over and he's hit that one straight down the ground - well the fields been cutted off our dad had straight into the Bambi it goes 22 runs off the over what a fly area is I still believe that now and that's why I enjoy watching a video yes is a great example although he just played a very dogmatic get innings in this final test in India but on his day a Vida village can turn a result around and I think that's the way to play so very flattered by that I'll take it you've had an extraordinary career you held certain records even though they were played in the 70s and the 80s for example you're the first person to score a thousand runs 100 wickets in 21 Test matches to the state nobody's come close that figure secondly a century and five wickets in a Test innings we're achievers five times that's it that's the hundred back with a square leg the great Segal feel Sobers only twice and your colors only twice from a bowling point of view in England you got three hundred and eighty three Test wickets it was only bettered now but Jimmy Anderson in in conclusion I think on behalf of all South Africans we can only commend you for an extraordinary career you've brought delight and pleasure to millions of people and we say well done you can be very proud of what you've achieved thank you very much sorry thank you [Music] [Music]

Channel: SuperSport

Views: 27,873

Rating: 4.7913041 out of 5

Keywords: SuperSport, in conversation, ali bacher, Ian Botham, sir ian botham, Ian Botham age, Ian Botham news, Ian Botham cricket, Ian Botham commentator, Ian Botham england cricket, Ian Botham net worth, Ian Botham caps, Ian Botham records, Ian Botham stats, Ian Botham wines, Ian Botham football, Ian Botham advert

Id: jUwHGzKHpwE

Length: 56min 25sec (3385 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 04 2019