Sir Ian Botham has hailed Ben
Stokes as English cricket’s “Special
One” and has told the all-rounder
his miraculous innings at Heading-
ley will change his life for ever.
Botham says his own life has
never been the same since he
scored 149 to help England beat
Australia at Headingley in 1981, an
innings Stokes evoked memories
of with his Ashes-saving 135 on
Sunday.
And Botham has labelled Stokes’s
efforts, which ensured England
beat Australia by one wicket despite
being bowled out for 67 in their
first innings, as one of cricket’s
“greatest events” and has paid a
glowing tribute to the batsman’s
calmness under pressure.
“He is the Special One, and I
intend to call him that for the rest of
his career,” Botham told The Daily
Telegraph. “He wants to be the best.
He wants to be in the oven. He
wants to be in the hottest place in
the kitchen and he wants to take
them all on. That is his character.
“It changed my life overnight. I
think Ben’s life will be the same. He
will have no private life. He has
to get used to that and so do the
family.
“He is public property, but it is a
great place to be in for the long
term. It will set him up for life. He
will reap the rewards which he
richly deserves and he is now a
world, box-office attraction.
“He will play all the Twenty20
leagues, but the refreshing thing
about it all is he wants to play Test
cricket and do well in it. That is the
ultimate test. Five-day games ebb
and flow. We were bowled out for
67 and in any other format it will be
all over. But Test cricket gives you
room for something extraordinary
to happen, and it happened.
“I will take him out for dinner
and have a bottle of wine and dis-
cuss it if he wants to. I think he is
the kind of character who wants to
improve on everything he does. He
will wake up tomorrow, it might
take 48 hours to sink in, and he will
think ‘I can do it, and I will do it
again’. He has got them. He has got
the wood on Australia and I tell you,
there is no better feeling as an Eng-
land cricketer.”
Talking to Sky Sports on Sunday
night, Bob Willis, Botham’s fellow
hero of Headingley ’81, said he
thought Stokes’s innings was better
because of the circumstances.
Botham did not want to be drawnBy Tom Morgan
SPORTS NEWS CORRESPONDENTThe “superman heroics” of Ben
Stokes and Jofra Archer must be
seized upon in a drive to boost
school cricket participation, the
new sports minister said last night.
Nigel Adams, a cricket fan who
was at Headingley on Sunday for
England’s “unbelievable” Ashes
comeback, told The Daily Telegraph“there’s no better time” to boost
involvement “after an incredible
summer of cricket”.
Adams, who has been in talks
with the England and Wales Cricket
Board recently, believes participa-
tion can be increased by his radical
plans to make physical education a
mandatory part of the curriculum.
“My personal view is that it should
be mandatory and there should be
up to five hours of sport every
week,” he said.
England’s remarkable fightback,
led by Stokes’s 135 not out, in the
third Test has sparked a surge in
nationwide interest in the final two
matches of the Ashes at Old Traf-
ford and the Oval. However, Adams
seems to accept that his drive with
the ECB to improve participation
will be done without Test-match
cricket on terrestrial television.Minister calls
for ‘incredible
summer’ to
boost school
participation
‘He has got the
wood on Australia
and there is no
better feeling as an
England cricketer’
Stokes and Archer can be
inspiration, says Adams
Government resists push
for free-to-air coverage
The
champagne
It was fine in
1981 for Willis
to be pictured
pouring
champagne
into Botham’s
mouth. No
such revelry
on Sunday – at
least not in
front of the
cameras – with
Stokes’s
champagne
staying
uncorked in
public view.Sport Cricket
1981
1981
The Government is resisting
calls to add the series to the so-
called “crown jewels” broadcast list
and sources at Sky Sports told The
Daily Telegraph last night that they
had “no plans to repeat the once-in-
a-generation” gesture it made to
share live rights to last month’s
World Cup final with Channel 4.
“Cricket also needs the cash,”
Adams said, referring to the ECB
agreement with Sky, which has
been renewed for the next cycle of
five years. “You simply wouldn’t
see the county game as it is without
the money that comes in from the
broadcasting deals. The money
would not be around.”
Elite cricket has largely taken
place behind Sky Sports’ paywall
since 2005 – a decision which has
dramatically reduced its audience,
but has enabled the ECB to invest‘There
should
be up
to five
hours
of sport
every
week’
ball. You just sit back and you wait.
See how it develops. He lost people
at the other end. That did not blow
his mind. He stayed there. When he
realised it was all down to him in
that fantastic partnership with Jack
Leach he took on the responsibility.
“Jack might have only got one
not out but he played his part as
well. He gutsed it out, which says a
lot about him as a person and a
character. It says a lot about Ben
because he trusted him at the end.
Australia felt they only needed one
ball an over to get Jack Leach but it
didn’t work.
“Why they were giving Ben a sin-
gle after five deliveries and one at
Jack was beyond me. That was
weird. They got that wrong. But
when someone puts pressure on
you like Ben did, then your mind
gets scrambled. Ben would have
been pretty relaxed until there
were seven or eight runs required.
Then he will have suddenly
thought, ‘Blimey I can’t get it wrong
now’.
“In 1981 we were made to follow
on. We had nowhere to go. The top
order failed but then the tail
wagged, which was similar to Sun-
day. Graham Dilley and Chris Old
batted with me and yesterday Ben
had guys trying to hang around and
play with him. It did not psyche him
out. He just stayed in and did what
he wanted to do.”
As chairman of Durham, Botham
has seen at first hand how Stokes
has rebuilt his life and thrown him-
self into cricket after being cleared
of affray at Bristol Crown Court.
Stokes sets an example to team-
mates with his work ethic and
Botham believes there will be more
special moments from Stokes
before this series ends.
“At Durham when he is not play-
ing for England he will be up there
watching the lads. I reckon he will
be popping in to see the boys this
week. He is that kind of guy,”
Botham said.
“He is getting better. He seems to
learn and want to improve every
department of his game.
“He is a fantastic fielder, showed
what he can do with the ball and
that is really pleasing from an all-
rounder’s point of view. He keeps
himself very fit now. I just call him
the Special One.”Botham hails a life-changing
Then and now Two magnificent
innings, two different eras
EXCLUSIVE
EXCLUSIVE
Nick Hoult
CRICKET NEWS
CORRESPONDENT
on comparisons but was impressed
by how Stokes never gave up and
marshalled the tail-end resistance
that helped his side home.
“Everyone was saying we had no
chance on Sunday, but you always
have a chance until it is over and
Ben believed that. I don’t compare
the two innings. There were differ-
ent circumstances, different condi-
tions and a different pitch. I was
just delighted to have witnessed
one of the greatest events in crick-
eting history.
“He did exactly what was needed
and kept his cool. In 1981 Chris
Tavare outscored me until the newPraise indeed: Sir Ian Botham called
Stokes’s innings “one of the greatest”Ashes-saving 135 makes
Stokes ‘public property’
I’ll give him advice if he
wants, says hero of 1981
2 ** Tuesday 27 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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