Editing Ian Botham (section)

===Somerset and England (1980 to 1980–81)===
{{BLP sources section|date=February 2019}}
Mike Brearley announced his retirement from Test cricket after the Jubilee Test in Bombay and, somewhat surprisingly given his lack of captaincy experience, Botham was appointed to replace him as England's [[captain (cricket)|captain]] for the forthcoming home series against [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies]], who were at the time the world's outstanding team. Botham led England in twelve Tests in 1980 and 1981 but he was unsuccessful, the team achieving no wins, eight draws and four defeats under his leadership. In addition, his form suffered and was eventually dismissed from the post, although he did actually resign just before the selectors were about to fire him. In Botham's defence, nine of his matches as captain were against West Indies, who afterwards won twelve of their next thirteen Tests against England. The other three were all against Australia.

In 1980, which was a wet summer, West Indies arguably had the better of all five Test matches, although, with the rain constantly intervening, they were able to win only one of them. West Indies won the first Test by only two wickets, and being at one stage 180/7 chasing a tricky 208. Rain saved England from a probable heavy defeat in the 2nd and 5th Tests: they fared better in between. In the 3rd, England conceded a first-innings lead of 110, but replied strongly in the second innings with a painstakingly slow and defensive 391/7, which would have resulted in a difficult target for the Windies had there been another day to chase it – but the third day had been rained off, and time ran out. In the Fourth Test, England picked up their only first-innings lead of the series – of 105 runs – but collapsed catastrophically in the second, before being saved by a century partnership for the last wicket between Willey (100*) and Willis (24*) to reach a total 201/9, and again the loss of a day and a half to rain left no time for the Windies to chase a potentially tough target above 300.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} 

Botham had a poor season as a bowler and, in all first-class cricket, took just 40 wickets at the high average of 34.67 with a best return of only four for 38. He did better as a batsman, scoring 1,149 runs (the second time, after 1976, that he topped a thousand in a season) at 42.55: but this did not translate to form in the Tests. He completed two centuries and six other half-centuries for his county. His highest score in the season was ultimately the highest of his career: 228 for Somerset against Gloucestershire at Taunton in May. He batted for just over three hours, hitting 27 fours and ten sixes. With Gloucestershire batting out time for a draw on the final day, Somerset used all eleven players as bowlers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/40/40145.html |title=Somerset v Gloucestershire (CC), 1980 |publisher=CricketArchive |access-date=9 May 2010 |archive-date=31 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131195620/http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/40/40145.html |url-status=live}}</ref> Apart from an innings of 57 in the first Test, Botham contributed little to England in the series and that innings was the only time he reached 50 in all his twelve Tests as England captain.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} 

Somerset came close to retaining their JPL title in 1980 but had to be content with second place, only two points behind [[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]]. They finished a credible fifth in the County Championship but were eliminated from both the Gillette and B&H Cups in the opening phase.

Botham led England on the controversial tour of the West Indies from January to April 1981. The second Test, scheduled to be played at [[Bourda]], was cancelled after the [[Guyana|Guyanese government]] revoking the visa of [[Robin Jackman]] because of his playing and coaching links with South Africa. The other four Tests were played and West Indies won the series 2–0 but England were helped by rain in the two drawn matches. Botham took the most wickets for England, but ''Wisden'' said "his bowling never recovered the full rhythm of a year before". His batting, however, apart from one good LOI performance in the first one-day international "was found wanting in technique, concentration and eventually in confidence". In ''Wisden's'' view, Botham's loss of form "could be cited as eloquent evidence of the undesirability of saddling a fast bowler and vital all-rounder with the extra burden of captaincy".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152217.html |title=England in West Indies, 1980–81 |publisher=WisdenOnline |access-date=9 May 2010 |archive-date=8 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408225133/http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/152217.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The closest England came to a victory was in the first ODI, in which England bowled the West Indies out for 127 but, thanks to six wickets from Colin Croft, failed by two runs in the chase which was anchored by Botham's 60: this was, at the time, the lowest ODI total batting first to be successfully defended.