The wild knight

Come that knock on the door at five he would be straight out of bed, into the shower and off to the dining room for a cup of strong black coffee, while I grabbed a few more minutes of peace. That is how he lives his life – full on.

Botham always used kidology as much as swing to earn his wickets, especially if he knew you. I remember him in those early days, soon after we had become England colleagues, running in at me when Leicestershire played Somerset, changing his action ball by ball and pulling all sorts of faces to try to distract me. It was hard to put the man out of your mind and focus solely on the ball.