Editing Ian Botham (section)

===Somerset and England (1977)===
Botham produced a number of good batting and bowling performances for Somerset in 1977 and these impressed the [[Test cricket|Test]] selectors who included him in the team for the third Test against [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]] at [[Trent Bridge]], starting on 28 July. Having captured 36 first-class wickets through May and June, Botham had something of a purple patch in July which earned him his Test call-up. In the match against Sussex at Hove, which Somerset won by an innings and 37 runs, he took four for 111 and six for 50 for his second 10wM. In Somerset's innings of 448 for eight, he shared a 4th wicket partnership of 174 with Viv Richards. Botham scored 62, Richards 204.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37236.html |title=Sussex v Somerset (CC), 1977 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305065519/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37236.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He took 22 more wickets, including two 5wI, in the next three County Championship games before his Test debut. In the whole season, playing 17 first-class matches, he took 88 wickets with six 5wI and one 10wM, his second innings return at Hove being his best.<ref name=CAballFC/> His batting was not quite as good as in 1976 as his average was down but he scored 738 runs with a highest of 114, which was his sole century, and five half-centuries.<ref name=CAbatFC/> He scored the century in July against Hampshire at Taunton, 114 in Somerset's first innings of 284, and followed it with bowling returns of four for 69 and four for 43, another impressive all-round effort which earned Somerset a win by 152 runs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37254.html |title=Somerset v Hampshire (CC), 1977 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=6 May 2017 |archive-date=2 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402135941/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37254.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Somerset had a good season in the County Championship, finishing fourth. They reached the semi-final of the Gillette Cup but, without the injured Botham, were well beaten by eventual winners Middlesex. They were a poor tenth in the JPL and were eliminated from the B&H Cup at the group stage.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Botham made his Test début at [[Trent Bridge]] on 28 July 1977 in the third Test against [[Australia national cricket team|Australia]]. His début was somewhat overshadowed by the return from self-imposed Test exile of [[Geoffrey Boycott]]. England went into the match with a 1–0 series lead having won the second Test after the first had been drawn. The series was played against the background of the so-called "[[Kerry Packer|Packer Affair]]" which resulted in the establishment of [[World Series Cricket]] in the next Australian season. Because of Tony Greig's involvement, he had been stripped of the England captaincy but remained in the team under new captain [[Mike Brearley]]. England had three all-rounders at Trent Bridge with Greig, [[Geoff Miller]] and Botham all playing. Australian captain [[Greg Chappell]] won the toss and decided to bat first. Australia scored 243 and were all out shortly before the close on day one. Botham, aged 21, made an immediate impact and took five for 74, the highlight being the dismissal of Chappell, his first test match wicket, bowled for just 19. England batted all through day two and into day three as Boycott, in his first Test innings since 1974, and Knott both made centuries. Botham came in at number eight on day three and scored 25 before he was bowled by [[Max Walker]]. England were all out not long afterwards for 364, a first innings lead of 121. Botham had no joy in Australia's second innings with none for 60. A century by [[Rick McCosker]] enabled Australia to score 309 before they were all out in the evening session on day four. [[Bob Willis]] took five for 88. England needed 189 to win and completed the job, by seven wickets, well into the final day with Brearley scoring 81 and Boycott, who batted on all five days, 80 not out. Botham didn't get a second innings.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37378.html |title=England v Australia, 3rd Test, 1977 |access-date=6 May 2017 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |archive-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822180343/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37378.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Botham's impressive bowling at Trent Bridge meant he was an automatic choice for the fourth Test at [[Headingley Cricket Ground|Headingley]] two weeks later. England won the toss, decided to bat first and went on to win by an innings and 85 runs to secure a winning 3–0 lead in the series and regain [[The Ashes]], which they had lost in 1974–75. The match is famous for Boycott's one hundredth career century, scored on his home county ground and in his second Test since his return to the England fold. Botham was bowled third ball by [[Ray Bright]] without scoring. He made amends with the ball by taking five for 21 in only eleven overs, Australia being bowled out for only 103. The [[follow-on]] was enforced and Australia this time made 248, but Botham (none for 47) did not take a wicket.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37445.html |title=England v Australia, 4th Test, 1977 |access-date=7 May 2017 |publisher=ESPNcricinfo |archive-date=22 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822174219/http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/37/37445.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was injured during the second innings when he accidentally trod on the ball and broke a bone in his foot. He was unable to play again in the 1977 season.<ref name=WCY78/>

His promising start as Test player resulted in two awards. He was named [[Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year|Young Cricketer of the Year]] for 1977 by the Cricket Writers' Club;<ref>{{cite book |last=Playfair |title=Playfair Cricket Annual (70th edition) |edition=2017 |publisher=Headline |location=London |page=225}}</ref> and was selected as one of the ''[[Wisden Cricketers of the Year]]'' (i.e., for 1977 but announced in the 1978 edition). ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack|Wisden]]'' commented that his 1977 season "was marred only by a week's cricket idleness carrying the drinks at the Prudential matches, and a foot injury which ruined for him the end of the season and probably robbed him of a rare double. He finished with 88 wickets and 738 runs".<ref name=WCY78/> Importantly, the foot injury was a broken toe sustained when he trod on the ball at Headingley and Botham subsequently needed treatment for it at his local hospital in Taunton. It was while going to one of his appointments that he took a wrong turn and ended up on a children's ward where he learned that some of the children were dying of [[leukaemia]]. This incident sparked his charitable crusade on behalf of [[Bloodwise|leukaemia research]].<ref name=BBCnews>{{cite news |last=Brett |first=Oliver |title=A lionheart on and off the pitch |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/6757911.stm |url-status=live |publisher=BBC Sport |date=15 June 2007 |access-date=28 August 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091115154137/http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/6757911.stm |archive-date=15 November 2009}}</ref>