Ian Botham In The Frame For Final Selection Slot (17 Apr 1996)

Botham in the frame for final selection slot

17 April 1996

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins

THERE is sufficient support for Ian Botham among the 18 first-class counties for his election to this season`s England selection committee to be at least an outside possibility. Ballot papers have to be at Lord`s by tonight and an announcement will be made tomorrow.

A Daily Telegraph survey of the 18 counties, the Minor Counties and MCC, who make up the 20 voting members of the Test and County Cricket Board, suggests that David Graveney has most support in a field of eight candidates and that only Geoff Miller, Chris Cowdrey and Kim Barnett can be discounted. The second and last remaining place is likely to be close between Brian Bolus, Graham Gooch, John Edrich and Botham but Bolus, who was a conscientious watcher and Illingworth ally in 1994, may just gain sufficient support to get back on to the panel.

Bolus and Edrich were the candidates preferred by the chairman, Ray Illingworth, but there appears to be a danger of a split vote between these two which would leave Illingworth isolated.

Anyone with more votes than anyone else will be assured of a place on this year`s committee but if two or more candidates finish with an equal number of votes, there would be a further ballot, lasting, probably, another week.

There is a danger that the process of selecting England sides will be deemed to be more important than the team itself, and how they perform, which is absurd. Once the names are known it will be everyone`s responsibility to bury hatchets and for Illingworth, coach David Lloyd and captain Mike Atherton to be seen to be working in unison.

Yet Illingworth would probably resign if Botham were to be elected tomorrow alongside Graveney, who opposed Illingworth as chairman of selectors but withdrew when his employers, the Cricketers` Association, persuaded him that there would be an inescapable conflict of interests.

If the successful pair were to be Graveney and Gooch, Illingworth would want to employ Bolus and Edrich, both of whom have all the time necessary to give to the job, as additional observers.

By no means entirely through his own fault, Botham would be in and out of tabloid headlines all summer if he were to become a selector.

Botham was a great all-round cricketer and a popular hero. He is now a successful "media personality" to whom the daily fee of 55 plus expenses for a day spent on selection duty would be a total irrelevance. He has many qualities but the mundane job of watching county cricket would bore him. He spends much of his time at present on cricketing business on behalf of the fabulously wealthy Sultan of Brunei. Since his election to the MCC cricket committee, he has been unable to attend any of their meetings: to date, three.

By no means entirely through his own fault, Botham would be in and out of tabloid headlines all summer if he were to become a selector. The profile given to Illingworth`s role is high enough as it is. Now that he is no longer manager, the men who matter most will be the two who are already certain to be two-fifths of the committee of five, Lloyd and Atherton.

Most counties have decided already on how they will vote after consulting either their full or their cricket committees. The task for those still to make final decisions is to try to secure a balanced selection committee which will forget internal politics and get on with their relatively simple duties: choosing a side to improve England`s standing, creating a feeling of harmony and confidence and making all county cricketers feel they are in with a fair chance if they play well enough.

Most sets of selectors would come up with much the same squad of players. The greatest need is for conscientious men, who work hard but do not seek the limelight.

This whole process of selecting the selectors, and the sudden interest which the counties have taken in it this year, is a smokescreen for far more important matters, such as the foundation of a more effective national board and of a more coherent professional and recreational structure which makes the England team`s success the first priority. It all smacks of a man trying to decide which suit to wear to a meeting while his house is starting to burn down.

PROBABLE VOTING (maximum 40 votes; top 2 elected).- David Graveney minimum 7 maximum 10; Brian Bolus 6-8; Graham Gooch 5-8; Ian Botham 4-7; John Edrich 3-5; Kim Barnett 2-5; Chris Cowdrey 2-3; Geoff Miller 1-4.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)