'It is a challenge but I will rise to it' - Botham unveiled as Durham chairman

If one thing seemed safe to predict during the days when Ian Botham was thrilling the crowds on the field and revelling in his status as cricket's first superstar off it, it was that he would never become part of the cricket establishment.

This was the man capable of producing one of the greatest allround performances in the history of Test cricket - a century and 13 wickets against India in Mumbai in 1980 - on the back of a 48-hour bender, and who once fell under the spell of a publicist who promised to make him a Hollywood legend.

He relished fame and adulation and spent large parts of his career pushing the limits of what he could get away with, with no regard for the blood pressure of those who paid his salary. The suits, the blazers, the committee men - they were there to be tested and taunted, so far as Botham saw things.

Yet there it was on the card in front of him, in black and white, as he sat alongside David Harker, the Durham chief executive, and Simon Henig, the leader of Durham County Council, for his first press conference in his new role: 'Sir Ian T Botham OBE, Durham CCC, Chairman.'

First a knight of the realm, now the chairman of a county cricket club. Whoever would have thought he would one day become one of them?

"No, never," he said, when it was put to him that 'Ian Botham, committee man' might not have been a description he foresaw for himself. "I was fighting with them for most of my life."

As it happens, he didn't wear a blazer - preferring a relaxed, informal look, teaming a pinstriped jacket with casual trousers and a pale blue shirt that was open at the neck. No tie. He had been picked up on that already, he said, although not by a fellow committee member but by Ben Stokes, Durham's England allrounder, who was merely poking fun.

This would be the natural dynamic of Botham's relationship with the Durham team, one imagines. All jokes and banter. Which is why his new identity still feels a little unreal.

"It is a totally new world for me," Botham said. "I've always been on the other side and now I'm in the engine room.

"There's a lot of people who know me, who are surprised that I am sat here. But the ones that really know me knew I'd have a go.

"Why not? I've been in the game all my life. I've seen it from a player's point of view. I think I can give a fair bit back, maybe open some doors."

The motivation, he says, is the challenge. And it is some challenge. Durham, who finished fourth in Division One of the County Championship last season, begin this season at the bottom of Division Two, having been relegated and docked 48 points in return for a financial bail-out from the England and Wales Cricket Board that pulled them back from the brink of bankruptcy.

The ECB's £3.8 million rescue deal, combined with the conversion into shares in the club of the £3.7 million they owed Durham County Council, has cleared a £7.5 million debt and allowed Durham to begin the 2017 at least still in business, even if their competitiveness is somewhat stilted. They will start with a points deficit in the other competitions too.

Botham will not be railing against any injustice, however. "The points deduction was unnecessary, I felt, but there is no point in fighting it.

"At the end of the day we are still a first-class county and we have got light at the end of our tunnel, which not all clubs can say. We'll be fine. The way I look at it is 'two wins and we're back in the black.'"

The idea that Botham might become involved was first discussed last summer, after it was announced that his predecessor as chairman, Clive Leach, would be stepping down. Botham lives a half-hour drive away, near Scotch Corner on the A1, and retains an affection for the club, for whom he played in 1992 - their debut season as a first-class county and the last of his career. The ECB themselves encouraged the idea, aware of the impact their sanctions would make, feeling that someone of Botham's standing and connection with the county would help them regenerate.

Ironically, it was a meeting with Rod Bransgrove, the Hampshire chairman who is said to have lobbied for Durham to go down, that convinced Botham to commit to the challenge.

They met, Botham said, in the Mayfair club, Alfred's in Davies Street, of which he is a member, sharing a bottle of red wine while they discussed property investments.

"I often have a drink with Rod, who is one of my closest friends and someone I've always been able to confide in," he said. "I said 'look, don't fall off your chair, but I'm thinking about [being Durham chairman]. What do you reckon?

"He was magnificent. He's been through a similar situation [with a debt-ridden county] at the Ageas Bowl and come through it. He took me through the pros and cons and the ups and downs and at the end he said 'you can do it.'

"I said 'right, I'll give it a go' and I'm glad I did. It is a challenge but I'm going to rise to it."

There will be some logistical problems. Botham's television commitments are in place for the next 18 months and more, which will limit the number of committee meetings he can attend at the Riverside.

Yet he denies he will be merely a figurehead. "It will be hard at first and I don't know how many meetings I will be able to attend but, with technology as it is now, I can take part in a conference call from anywhere in the world.

"My job is to bring in new faces in sponsorship, open doors that perhaps couldn't have been opened.

"Financially, we can't bury the bones and hope they'll go away, which is perhaps what has happened in the past. What we will do is be completely realistic.

"Without the help of the council and the ECB we wouldn't be here today. We're not burying our heads. We will get ourselves back into the black sooner rather than later. We are in a position to do that. If you look at the bigger picture, we're in the same boat - probably a better boat - than most of the other counties.

"Anyone who knows me knows I don't go into anything half-cock. We still have a first-class club here and one that will prosper. And I'm in it for the long term."