Gower: Botham would set newspapers alight

“To be fair he [Botham] wasn’t a great fan of newspapers. The only thing he liked about newspapers was when he sued them, normally settled out of court, then he thought they were great"

David Gower has revealed that Ian Botham would set newspapers on fire in the England dressing room

Former England cricketer and current Sky presenter David Gower has revealed that Ian Botham’s fiery relationship with the British press had a very real manifestation.

Speaking to comedian Paul Chowdhry as part of a new short series where cricket legends Gower, Isa Guha, Kumar Sangakkara and Harbhajan Singh are quizzed on various subjects, Gower said that in the dressing room: “Botham would set newspapers alight while someone was reading them.

“To be fair he [Botham] wasn’t a great fan of newspapers. The only thing he liked about newspapers was when he sued them, normally settled out of court, then he thought they were great."

Legendary England all-rounder Botham, who scored 5200 runs at an average of 33.54 and took 383 wickets at 28, was not shy of a controversy nor did he have the best relationship with the British press.

In a career of extreme highs and lows, British newspaper headlines were endlessly commanded by the presence of Botham, whether lauding his achievements or criticising his off-field, and on-field, indiscretions.

On Botham’s dislike for what newspapers wrote during his career, Gower said: “But he wasn’t a great fan of what he read, especially about himself.”

Speaking on the same episode, former England Women player Isa Guha stated that the atmosphere in their dressing room was very different.

“Myself and Katherine Brunt, before we’d go out to open the bowling, we’d bang our heads to Rammstein’s “Du Hast”, which was a lot of fun. It’s heavy metal and that would help us get ready to go out and play.”

Paul Chowdhry assessed: “That is very different to the England team, burning up papers and you’re listening to thrash metal.”

Sky Sports Cricket will exclusively show all England v India Tests live, continuing with the fourth Test on Thursday from 11am