best innings............

[Randall]

you've seen, at the ground or on tv

ill kick off with

[youtube][/youtube]

brutal.

[M H]

KP yesterday's gotta be up there with the best and Richards at The Oval in '76 instantly comes to mind

[Randall]

kp wasnt facing the greatest attack, had it been against murali for sure.

[Randall]

[youtube][/youtube]

what stemmed from this still lives vividly in the memory, mh on the commentary as well

[youtube][/youtube]

[M H]

Ha ha! Botham at Headingly in 1981 deserves a mention

[Mr Sheen]

Ha ha! Botham at Headingly in 1981 deserves a mention

God no. Was a slogathon. Effective but not a good innings by any aesthetic judge. His 118 at Old Trafford a few weeks later was a much, much better knock.

The Headingley one was legendary because of the circumstances, Old Trafford was a man at the peak of his game - demolishing weak opposition and hiding when the big boys came to play. Flintoff's stats don't compare with Botham, but he rose to the challenge of playing the best whereas Botham ran away.

[M H]

Ha ha! Botham at Headingly in 1981 deserves a mention

God no. Was a slogathon. Effective but not a good innings by any aesthetic judge. His 118 at Old Trafford a few weeks later was a much, much better knock.

The Headingley one was legendary because of the circumstances, Old Trafford was a man at the peak of his game - demolishing weak opposition and hiding when the big boys came to play. Flintoff's stats don't compare with Botham, but he rose to the challenge of playing the best whereas Botham ran away.

Come on mate, Botham never hid from anyone and remember he was an all rounder. A low order batter and an opening bowler at his peak. That innings may have been shit or bust but it made a huge difference to the series, especially as he'd just been sacked as captain.

He should never have been made captain in my opinion

[Oche Balboa]

Ha ha! Botham at Headingly in 1981 deserves a mention

God no. Was a slogathon. Effective but not a good innings by any aesthetic judge. His 118 at Old Trafford a few weeks later was a much, much better knock.

The Headingley one was legendary because of the circumstances, Old Trafford was a man at the peak of his game - demolishing weak opposition and hiding when the big boys came to play. Flintoff's stats don't compare with Botham, but he rose to the challenge of playing the best whereas Botham ran away.

You are joking

[Mr Sheen]

Ha ha! Botham at Headingly in 1981 deserves a mention

God no. Was a slogathon. Effective but not a good innings by any aesthetic judge. His 118 at Old Trafford a few weeks later was a much, much better knock.

The Headingley one was legendary because of the circumstances, Old Trafford was a man at the peak of his game - demolishing weak opposition and hiding when the big boys came to play. Flintoff's stats don't compare with Botham, but he rose to the challenge of playing the best whereas Botham ran away.

You are joking

No. Watch it then watch the Old Trafford one. Like comparing McDonalds to a fine steak. Hit the spot perfectly in the circumstances. It did the trick but was a T20 style knock. Was a knock of someone who knew his neck was on the line and decided to go down blazing. But as far as the innings as a whole went it wasn't his best that month, let alone ever. If it weren't for Willis' heroics no-one would remember it.

It was typical Botham anyway. Bully a weaker team with force of personality.

[M H]

The only team Botham failed against was the Windies, at that time nobody really had success against them

[Stran]

would rather watch paint dry....


although i do realise this isnt helpful to the topic at hand

[Mr Sheen]

The only team Botham failed against was the Windies, at that time nobody really had success against them

Dunno, Lamb had a decent record against them. Certainly in comparison to his career record. Botham's record was so inferior to his stats against the others, it's unbelievable.

Don't get me wrong, he's still the player I would choose to watch out of everyone I've seen, but swinging and being lucky enough to miss the fielders does not a great innings make. The man himself describes it as a fluke, so I'm not sure any of us can argue.

"It was one of those crazy, glorious, one-off flukes. When I left home on the Sunday evening after the rest day I told Kath I would be checking out of our Leeds hotel in the morning, that I would be back home on the Monday afternoon, early evening at the latest.

Dilley was playing in one of his early Tests so he reasoned he had nothing to lose and decided to go for it. He just kept on hitting so I decided to join in. At that stage the Aussies found it all very amusing; as far as they were concerned the match was over. But as we wiped out the deficit their mood started to change. By now I was well into the groove and I can't remember playing a defensive shot in the innings. Some of it was sheer unadulterated slogging - as Mike Brearley said afterwards 'pure village green stuff'."

[M H]

I read that myself mate and do remember the innings well. Pure entertainment and in the context of the game came out of nowhere, which is also why it made a great innings. He literally slogged England back into the match and broke the Aussies

[Randall]

the great innings can easily be ranked on being instrumental in winning games which boths clearly was.

the fact he didnt play a forward defensive is neither here nor there for me, not for the purists maybe but still "great"

[Snakehipsx2]

Sadly there is no footage of the best innings ever as it took place at the old ground of Wistaston VCC in 1992. The batsman in question was a 16 year old due to open the batting in a 40 over cup match against the club he had represented at junior level the previous season, however, having made his first team debut the previous day and then spent the evening drinking vast quantities of alcohol and inhaling a chicken madras, he was found asleep in the changing rooms by his captain shortly before play was about to commence. The skipper decided to send in the regular number 3 to open while other members of the team tried to sober him up, with 3 overs gone Wistaston were 5 for 1 and the hungover 16 year old was sent in with the instruction "Just get out there and swing the bat, see what happens" ......... Somehow, the said 16 year old managed to stay at the crease until the innings was closed. The final ball of the innings was bowled by his former team manager, a wily left arm finger spinner with the teenager sitting on 96. Having missed out on the penultimate ball of the innings trying an ambitious pull over square leg he decided to give his former mentor the charge ............ meeting the flighted delivery on the full, he connected as well as he'd done at any time before or since sending the cherry rocketing past the umpire's midriff, bouncing once, into the sight screen to bring up his first & only century. Just for good measure he then took 4 catches & a stumping (legside, awesome work) while keeping wicket to ensure his team progressed to the next round. I'm sure this post will cause the seethometer level to be set to epic .............

[D & B]

Lovely write up Snakey, got a feeling I'm missing something though.