Simon Wilde, cricket correspondent for the Sunday Times, explains why it was worthwhile to write a new biography of Ian Botham, hardly the most underwritten of cricketers.
Botham's life may have been often chronicled, but not always well. I found myself constantly surprised by fresh details: from the great-great-grandfather named Chappell, to his grandparents being married a short walk from the ground where he would play his first match for England; from him picking a drinking mate for a Sunday league match against Glamorgan, to him having a Mickey Mouse phone in his bedroom; from the chambermaid delivering a breakfast of two pints of milk and the racing papers, to the steps he took to leave Somerset before the trouble over Viv Richards and Joel Garner ever arose.
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Lay the table as this week we are talking about food and cricket. It's an often overlooked but important part of everyone's game. Also in the show, Gary Palmer's CCM Academy is taking bookings, Ian Pont talks to us and we hear how P... Read Post
Simon Katich's axing from Cricket Australia's contract list has sparked plenty of debate. Richard Hinds, in the Age, writes that although selection controversies have always been part of cricket, in the past those decisions were at ... Read Post
He claims he's always been "crap" at cricket, but knows exactly what makes cricketers desirable. Hollywood actor Hugh Grant, who participated in a charity cricket game last week, explains his relationship with cricket to George Park... Read Post