ENG v AUS AVERAGES
	BATTING	BOWLING
	Matches: 36	Balls: 8479
	Innings: 59	Maidens: 297
	Not outs: 2	Runs: 4093
	Runs: 1673	Wickets: 148
	High score: 149	Average: 27.66
	Average: 29.35	Best: 6-78
	Stats shown are from all completed Tests and one-day internationals

If not the greatest all-rounder of all time, Ian Botham is almost certainly the greatest match winner.

Of his many outstanding performances, his feats in 1981 were quite incredible.

Having resigned from the England captaincy after bagging a pair in the second Test at Lord’s, Botham turned round the third Test at Headingley with an electrifying display of batting.

He had already taken 6-95 in the Australian first innings and scored 50 in England’s first innings.

By late afternoon on the fourth day, having followed on 227 behind, England were 135-7.

Botham, exuding confidence and supported by the tail, scored 149 not out, which, with Bob Willis’ demonic bowling the next day, enabled England to record an unimaginable victory.

At Edgbaston in the fourth Test, Australia again seemed on course for victory, only for Botham to take the last five wickets for one run in 28 balls.

At Old Trafford in the fifth Test, he scored a century... there was no stopping him.

Another brilliant all-round performance had taken place in Bombay in 1989/90 against India. He hit 114 in a single innings and took 13-106 (6-58 and 7-48) - it was the first time the feat of scoring a century and taking 10 wickets had been accomplished in a Test match.

The Test double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets took only 21 matches. The double-double of 2,000 runs and 200 wickets took 42.

He was the first player to score 5,000 runs and take 300 wickets in Tests, with his highest Test innings being 208 against India at The Oval in 1982.

His best single-innings bowling tally in Tests was 8-34 against Pakistan at Lord’s in 1978. His overall Test record was 5,200 runs, including 14 hundreds; 383 wickets, the most by any England player; and 120 catches, many of them breath-taking.

But Botham was not just a record-maker. The ‘English Lion’, with the golden mane, was instant press copy and the headlines off the field only added to his reputation for being untameable.

But then, if he had been, the heroic deeds on the field would surely not have happened.

Botham also played soccer for Scunthorpe United and headed a number of charity walks of formidable distance in aid of Leukaemia Research. His generosity and loyalty to the cause helped bring in much needed financial support.

After retiring from cricket he appeared in the theatre in pantomime and also talk shows. In recent years he has commentated on cricket.

Ian Terence Botham was awarded an OBE in 1992 for services to the game and his work for charity.