New territory for Botham as England legend takes on Durham role

SIR IAN BOTHAM has admitted his new role as Durham chairman is more daunting than the day he walked out at Headingley in 1981 to launch his Ashes assault on Australia.

The former England all-rounder was unveiled on Monday, as the county with which he ended his career in their debut season as a first-class club 25 years ago prepared for a fresh start after accepting a £3.8m England and Wales Cricket Board bail-out which came with heavy penalties.

Botham is confident he can steer Durham, who have three County Championship titles to their name since 1992, back to the top of English cricket, but he is having to learn on the job.

Asked how his current challenge compared to his heroics against the Australians almost 36 years ago, when his unbeaten 149 set up a remarkable Third Test victory, he replied with a smile: “Well, I was quite good at that so that was all right, I wasn’t too bothered about that. I quite enjoyed going out there. But this is a new venture, new territory and I’m learning each day. You learn as you go along and I am looking forward to it, I genuinely am and I have got some good people around me who will help me.

“It’s a learning process for all of us and I am very, very confident that there’s light at the end of this tunnel. We have now got a great opportunity to get ourselves back in the higher echelon of the game.

“But more importantly, we will be debt-free, that’s our intention.”

However, Botham, who scored 19,399 first-class runs and took 1,172 wickets, insists his influence will not extend to the dressing room.

He said: “I won’t be interfering with the cricket, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. They are doing extremely well, they don’t need an old codger like me interfering. I have no intentions of interfering with the cricket whatsoever. I retired in 1993. It’s a long time ago.”

The sanctions imposed by the ECB 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB. email: sport@theherald.co.uk. Tel 0141 302 6590 Head of Sport Stewart Weir after Durham found themselves £7.5m in debt included relegation to Division Two with a 48-point deduction and further penalties in the shorter formats, although Botham will not waste any energy fighting those punishments.

He said: “There’s no point. I’ve got other things to do much more important than quibbling over that.

“They can’t keep this lot down for long.

“There’s no doubt that they will be straight back up to the top. Just give them a little bit of time.”