Editing Ian Botham (section)

==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, pointed out 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/>