James Wilson on Ian Botham & Allan Lamb’s ill-fated libel trial
To a certain generation of cricketing followers, there was something supremely ironic about Ian Terence Botham becoming a Knight of the Realm. Throughout his playing career he was England’s perennial bad boy: an aggressive presence on the field and a bon viveur off it, with a legendary disdain of authority.
It is true that in more recent times he has begun to resemble the not-in-my-day whingers he once despised. Then again, Botham has always been certain he is right about everything, it is just that as a player that made him sound like a rebellious youth, but as a commentator it has made him sound like a Truemanesque curmudgeon. So perhaps it is not Botham who has changed, but rather our perception of him. Or perhaps it is part of the inversion of values that different generations sometimes go through, in the same way that a Master of Fox Hounds was once a pillar of society but is now almost ipso facto a criminal.
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