Ian Botham goes on astonishing rant about the Taunton pitch after Somerset’s game against Durham, calling it ‘appalling’.
Ian Botham hits out at ‘appalling’ Taunton pitch after Durham’s two-day defeat.
Durham’s honorary president, Lord Ian Botham, has blasted Somerset, his old team, for creating a “appalling” pitch after the two teams’ County Championship match saw 35 wickets lost in five sessions.
The renowned England all-rounder, Botham, played for Somerset for the majority of his professional career and was instrumental in the team’s brief triumph in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Later, he joined Worcestershire, then Durham, where he served as chairman for seven years before being elected honorary president last year.
Following their five-wicket victory against Durham on Wednesday, he accused his former county of turning the Championship “into a farce” by setting up a bright-green pitch on which spinners claimed 22 wickets. The head coach of Somerset, Jason Kerr, called the pitch “an incredible surface” and attributed the high number of wickets to the calibre of his bowlers.
“As an ex-Somerset player, I find this appalling,” Botham wrote on X, alongside pictures of the pitch, which were taken before a ball was bowled. “Durham raised serious concerns the day before the game started… change is needed… both Somerset and Durham have high quality batsmen… Somerset do not need to do this… reduces the game to a farce.”
Botham said that the pitch underlined why England have largely opted to ignore county averages in selection in recent years. “These are not first-class cricket conditions in midsummer,” he wrote. “I am not surprised that Rob [Key] and Ben [Stokes] unfortunately have to disregard county performance in assessing players for Test quality appearances.”
“At a time when County Cricket is under pressure for relevance as a breeding ground for International Players and Somerset members have apparently voted for the status quo, the club produces this pitch.”