Botham's Century My 100 Great Cricketing Characters

Botham's Century - Ian Botham with Peter Hayter  Newschoice - 2001 - 432pp, full-colour photographs - Hardcover with dustcover in good condition - Internally clean and tightly bound.

An inventive concept in sports books: behind the punning title are 100 portraits of cricketing characters who made an impression on Ian Botham over his colourful career. Included are players, umpires and coaches, along with such non-cricket figures as pop stars. And the fact that it isn't just such cricketing legends as Viv Richards, Brian Close and Shane Warne that are evoked but even figures such as the Lord's cook Nancy (who prepared the lunches at Lord's - and increased Botham's waistline) makes this a highly unusual cricketing memoir. With specially commissioned portraits, the book is bound to do well, given Botham's celebrity and the publisher's timing (it's published to tie in to the conclusion of the 2001 Ashes series). Botham is a cricketer who has never fought shy of courting controversy, which guarantees that the book will not be anodyne. Professional cricket correspondent Peter Hayter may have been responsible for the actual writing, but Botham's voice comes across strong and clear, and it's refreshing to see a sporting title that is really unlike any of its predecessors - not an easy task in such an overcrowded field.