Watch: At Old Trafford in 1981, Ian Botham set a new Ashes record for most sixes in an innings to help England seal the series against Australia.
We know the story. One-down after two Test matches, England sacked an underperforming Ian Botham mid-series and replaced him with Mike Brearley.
Botham immediately found form. He began the Headingley Test with 6-95, then made a 54-ball 50, and followed it with an improbable 149 not out as England won despite having to follow on.
But his summer was far from over. Chasing 151, Australia had been cruising at 114-5 when Botham decided to step in. He had an indifferent Test match until then, but now he took 5-1 in 28 balls to pull off a second miracle as Australia collapsed to 121.
Dennis Lillee got him first ball at Old Trafford, but he took three wickets and three catches in Australia’s first innings. England led by 101 in the first innings, but things did not look too good when Botham joined Chris Tavare at 104-5.
Botham took 53 balls for his first 28 runs. Then Australia claimed the second new ball, and he tore into the Australian attack, smashing 66 runs in eight overs by tea. These included three sixes off Lillee and one off Alderman.
The slow start denied him a chance at Gilbert Jessop’s record for the then fastest Ashes hundred. At 86 balls, Botham’s hundred remains the joint second-fastest for England against Australia and joint fifth-fastest in all Ashes.
Yet, it was not the outright winner of the series, for he had been just as quick at Headingley. The 102-ball 118 included six sixes, one more than Sam Loxton’s existing Ashes record: the count has since been overtaken by Kevin Pietersen, then Ben Stokes.
Mike Whitney, summoned from Gloucestershire and handed a first Test cap, finally had Botham caught behind to end his whirlwind innings. The 118 had lasted a mere two hours, over the course of which Tavare – the ice to Botham’s fire – had added 28.
At 304 minutes, Tavare’s was then the third-slowest fifty in the history of Test cricket. He eventually made a seven-hour 78, while Alan Knott (59) and John Emburey (57) pushed England to 404. They won by 103 runs – but not before two wickets and a catch for Botham.
The Ashes was England’s, but Botham was one box unchecked in the series – a ten-wicket haul. That happened during the drawn Test match at The Oval, where he claimed 6-125 and 4-128.
