Botham: My Autobiography. Ian Botham

before the close, when the last day started the West Indies needed only 99 to win with eight wickets in hand.

      The crowd barely reached 1000 but those that bothered to come saw us win, lose, win and ultimately lose the game. As the day wore on, wickets fell regularly and the tension mounted. When the West Indies were 180 for seven, thanks to Bob Willis’ five for 65, we felt a win was within our grasp. They were still 23 from victory and despite two dropped slip catches things were going our way. And then disaster struck.

      In those days, if you had to pick a fielder to take a catch to win a Test match, the man you would turn to without hesitation was David Gower. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred he would have snapped up Andy Roberts at cover off Bob without even thinking about it. This just happened to be the hundredth time. No one on the field could believe it, least of all David. You can never say that one catch is the difference between winning and losing; but just how important that particular chance had been to both sides became obvious when, after he was run out for 62 by a direct throw from Peter Willey, Des Haynes ran from the field in tears believing his mistake had probably cost the West Indies the game, even though only three runs were required with two wickets remaining. If only he had been right …

      The second Test at Lord’s was affected by rain and on the last day we managed only half an hour before play ended. At that point we were 133 for two chasing a first innings deficit of 249 runs. Some said we were saved by the weather, but we were playing well enough not to have needed any help from the elements. The highlights of the game were a knock of 123 from Graham Gooch followed by Des Haynes hitting 184 and Viv Richards 145.

      The weather dominated again at Old Trafford for the third Test where ten and a half hours were lost to rain and bad light, but again we were fighting back in the second innings after collapsing first time round to 150 all out.

      At The Oval our best batting performance of the summer put us in the driving seat as we finished our first innings with 370 on the board. I then claimed my 150th Test wicket, the sweet prize of Viv Richards who was brilliantly held by Peter Willey in the gully. The West Indies finished 105 behind us and but for a battling 61 from Faoud Bacchus we could have been in an even better position. The advantage, however, quickly swung away from us at that point and in our second innings we plummeted to 18 for four. Peter Willey then got us out of jail with 100 not out in an unbeaten last wicket stand with Bob Willis worth 117, and that allowed us to declare at 209 for nine. However, time ran out and our chance of winning the series went with it.

      We finished the series with another draw at Leeds where two days were lost to rain. A poor first innings of 143 was trumped by the West Indies score of 245 but we did better in the second innings and were 227 for six when play came to an end. I had finished the series with 13 wickets and 169 runs and was left to reflect on what might have been if David Gower had held on to that catch at Trent Bridge.

      There was no break for the team as the Australians were over for the Centenary Test at Lord’s, and we warmed up for the game with two comfortable one-day international victories over them at The Oval and Edgbaston.