Bransgrove backs Botham to be Durham’s saviour
THE man who persuaded Sir Ian Botham to take on the Durham chairman’s job is now backing him to make a success of perhaps the toughest challenge in English cricket.
Botham revealed on Monday that he had spoken at length with Hampshire chairman, Rod Bransgrove before accepting his new role at the Riverside.
Bransgrove, a long-time friend of Botham, told The Cricket Paper: “It’s the benefit of the game as a whole but he’s the right man at the right time for Durham. He’ll make a great appointment because he has this huge passion for the game and for the county and never contemplates failure.”
In many ways Botham has accepted a hospital pass, with Durham about to begin the season on minus 48 points in Division Two of the County Championship, while also starting the T20 Blast and One-Day Cup with a four-point and two-point penalty respectively.
It’s a situation akin to the impossible job of wrestling back the Ashes in 1981 – and we all know what happened then.
Having kept hold of the likes of Keaton Jennings, Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth, Botham’s side won’t be short of quality – and his presence should provide the motivation the players need.
Bransgrove said: “It’s not just the young players, every player will be inspired. I spoke to Ben Stokes and he’s excited.Why wouldn’t you be? He’ll give the place a big lift because it has been a tough time for them.”
Hampshire were, of course, handed a last-ditch relegation reprieve as a result of Durham’s demotion, an irony not lost on Bransgrove. He does, though, refute any suggestion that he did, in some way, lobby for Durham’s punishment.
“I was not remotely involved in their relegation – that’s none of my business,” he says.
“What I’ve done is to actually assist Durham wherever I can, for someone to suggest otherwise is just nonsense.”
Bransgrove has been county chairman for 16 years and has witnessed enormous changes thanks to the growth of T20 cricket and the ever-changing domestic calendar – and he believes Botham is joining up at a critical time for the sport.
Bransgrove said: “There’s no doubt that in the past few years we’ve seen a conflict between the interests of the game at large and the short-term interests of cricket members.
“Chairman have had a slightly different role and it hasn’t been easy to go back to the members to explain that the game is in some disarray and that some drastic things have to be introduced to protect it.
“We all love the red ball game and want to protect it but we’ve had to work hard to get the message across that T20 cricket is needed to maintain red ball cricket itself.”
With a regional or city-based T20 competition about to come to fruition, Botham has arrived at a time of revolution – he wouldn’t have it any other way.