After forming a bond with the Nine Network's Kerry Packer during the World Series Cricket days, Greig was offered a "job for life" by Packer as a commentator during Nine's cricket coverage. Greig spent the rest of his life in Australia and continued his commentary role. He was regarded as one of cricket's top commentators in his career, noted for being unbiased, witty, and deeply enthusiastic about the game. His pitch reports, where he would use a car key or a pen to illustrate pitch characteristics or crack sizes (including the odd moment where his implements would become stuck in the pitch), were fondly remembered and imitated by fans. During the 2006 Ashes Perth Test, on commenting on the need for England's Steve Harmison to intimidate Australia's number 11 Glenn McGrath, Greig indicated the need to "Touch him up, before rolling him over".[35]
Greig commentated for Channel Four in the United Kingdom, the SABC when making occasional trips home, and for Sky Sports' coverage of England's 2012 tour of Sri Lanka. He also hosted a regular weekly podcast called The Tony Greig Show for Cricinfo, covering international cricket matters and airing his forthright views in a section called "What's eating Tony Greig this week?". His love of the game may be encapsulated by a comment he made on Cricinfo in mid-2012: "Give your hand to cricket and it will take you on the most fantastic journey, a lifetime journey both on and off the field."[36]
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Ian Botham was born in Heswall, Cheshire, to Herbert Leslie ("Les") Botham and Violet Marie, née Collett.[8][9] His father had been in the Fleet Air Arm for twenty years spanning the Second World War; his mother was a nurse. The family moved to Yeovil before Botham's third birthday after his father got a job as a test engineer at Westland Helicopters.[8][10] Both his parents played cricket: his father for Westland Sports Club while his mother captained a nursing services team at Sherborne.[11] Botham developed an eagerness for the game before he had started school: he would climb through the fence of the Yeovil Boys' Grammar School to watch the pupils play cricket. At the age of around four, he came home with a cricket ball and asked his mother "Do you know how to hold a ball when you're going to bowl a daisy-cutter?" He subsequently demonstrated the grip and went away to practise bowling it.[12]
Botham went on to Bucklers Mead Comprehensive School in Yeovil, where he continued to do well in sport and played for the school's cricket and football teams. He became captain of their under-16 cricket team when he was thirteen. His performances for the school drew the attention of Somerset County Cricket Club's youth coach Bill Andrews. Still thirteen, he scored 80 runs on debut for Somerset's under-15s side against Wiltshire, but the team captain Phil Slocombe did not call on him to bowl as he considered him to be a specialist batsman.[17] Two years later, Botham had the opportunity to choose between football and cricket: Bert Head, manager of Crystal Palace offered him apprentice forms with the First Division club.[18] He already had a contract with Somerset and, after discussing the offer with his father, decided to continue to pursue a cricket career, as he believed he was a better cricketer.[19] When informed that he wanted to be a sportsman, Botham's careers teacher said to him: "Fine, everyone wants to play sport, but what are you really going to do?"[20]
In a County Championship match on 13 July 1974, Botham scored his first half-century in first-class cricket. He made 59 in Somerset's first innings against Middlesex at Taunton, the highest individual score in a low-scoring match which Somerset won by 73 runs. Middlesex's captain was Mike Brearley, who would become a very influential figure in Botham's career.[42] A month later, in a match against Leicestershire at Clarence Park, Weston-super-Mare, Botham achieved his first-ever five wickets in an innings (5wI) with five for 59. He took seven in the match which Somerset won by 179 runs, largely thanks to Close who scored 59 and 114*.[43]
Botham's international début for England was on 26 August 1976 in a Limited Overs International (LOI) against the West Indies at the North Marine Road Ground, Scarborough. The series was called the Prudential Trophy and the teams had 55 overs each per innings. Botham, still only 20, was the youngest player. At Scarborough, England captain Alan Knott lost the toss and Clive Lloyd, captaining the West Indies, elected to field first. Botham was number seven in the batting order and came in at 136 for five to join Graham Barlow. He scored only one before he was caught by Roy Fredericks off the bowling of his future Sky Sports colleague Michael Holding. England's innings closed at 202 for eight with Barlow 80 not out. West Indies lost Fredericks almost immediately but that brought Viv Richards to the crease and he hit 119 not out, winning the man of the match award, and leading West Indies to victory in only 41 overs by six wickets. Botham had the consolation of taking his first international wicket when he had Lawrence Rowe caught by Mike Hendrick for 10. He bowled only three overs and took some punishment from Richards, his return being one for 26.[49]
The shambolic state of international cricket at the end of the 1970s was illustrated by the panic resulting from a hastily convened settlement between World Series Cricket and the Australian Board of Control. Although they had visited Australia only twelve months earlier to play for the Ashes, England were persuaded to go there again and play another three Tests, but with the Ashes not at stake. As Wisden put it, the programme did not have the best interests of cricket at heart, particularly Australian cricket below Test level, which had been "swamped by the accent on Test and one-day internationals, neatly parcelled to present a cricketing package suitable for maximum exploitation on television".[79] The matches were widely perceived to be semi-official only and received "a definite thumbs down".[79] Botham was a member of the England team and played in all three matches which, rightly or wrongly, count towards his Test statistics. England were largely faithful to the players who had toured Australia the previous winter and Derek Underwood was the only World Series player they recalled; they did not recall Alan Knott, for example, while Tony Greig was beyond the pale.[80] Australia recalled Greg Chappell, Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Jeff Thomson, fielding a team that was a mixture of old and new. In the first match, played at the WACA Ground, Botham had match figures of eleven for 176 but to no avail as Australia won by 138 runs. Having excelled with the ball in that match, Botham did so with his bat in the third one, scoring an unbeaten 119 in the second innings of the third.[81] Australia won all three matches of a series best forgotten for all its attendant politics, but Botham had enhanced his reputation as a world-class all-rounder.[79]
Mike Brearley announced his retirement from Test cricket after the Jubilee Test in Bombay and, somewhat surprisingly given his lack of captaincy experience, Botham was appointed to replace him as England's captain for the forthcoming home series against West Indies, who were at the time the world's outstanding team. Botham led England in twelve Tests in 1980 and 1981 but he was unsuccessful, the team achieving no wins, eight draws and four defeats under his leadership. In addition, his form suffered and was eventually dismissed from the post, although he did actually resign just before the selectors were about to fire him. In Botham's defence, nine of his matches as captain were against West Indies, who afterwards won twelve of their next thirteen Tests against England. The other three were all against Australia.
Writing in Barclays World of Cricket (1986), former England captain Tony Lewis commented on Botham's strength, enthusiasm and aggression "which he took into every game".[139] Lewis, however, pointed out that Botham's exuberance often reduced the efficiency of his play, in that he would take too many risks or refuse to give up on a bowling tactic despite ongoing heavy cost. He summarised Botham as an exciting cricketer who lacked self-discipline.[139] Botham was in the middle of his career when the book was published, but Lewis emphasised the speed at which Botham had achieved certain milestones such as 1,000 runs and 100 wickets in Test cricket. At that time there seemed no reason why Botham should not go on reaching milestones, but he had already peaked and, in retrospect, his career had a meteoric aspect. His rival Imran Khan asserted this when he said: "Botham was someone who I don't think ever did justice to his talent. When he started he could have done anything, but he declined very quickly. In a way our careers were the opposite of each other. I started quite slowly but got better, maximised my talent. He went the other way, I think".[140]
Yuzvendra Chahal has lauded Virat Kohli for his tremendous work ethic, saying the standard the India captain has set form himself and the team is second to none. In fact, his admiration towards his India and Royal Challengers Bangalore captain is such that he believes a cricketer today can be successful and be on the path to greatness if he/she can emulate even 30 percent of what Kohli has achieved.
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In April 2013, a Utah construction company paid three former employees $230,000 and improved its future employment practices to settle an EEOC race harassment and retaliation lawsuit. The EEOC filed suit against the company in September 2010, charging that the company subjected Antonio and Joby Bratcher and a class of African-American employees to racial harassment and retaliation. In a ruling last year, Judge Dale A. Kimball found that the Bratchers and class member James Buie were subjected to an objectively hostile work environment based on race. The court observed that the site superintendent, Paul E. Facer, referred to the African-American employees as "n----rs" or a variation of that word almost every time he spoke to them. Other Holmes employees used the term "n----r-rigging" while working there, and racist graffiti was evident both inside and outside portable toilets on the work site. In addition to the monetary relief, Holmes also committed to implement several affirmative steps to prevent and address race-based conduct on the worksite. These measures include: a comprehensive training regimen on discrimination (including racial discrimination and harassment); discussions of harassment in work site meetings on a monthly basis; the provision of an external ombudsman to receive and investigate complaints of discrimination or retaliation; and a detailed review and revision of Holmes' policies and procedures concerning protected-class discrimination and retaliation. EEOC v. Holmes & Holmes Industrial, Inc., No. 2:10-CV-955 (D. Utah consent decree filed Apr. 12, 2013). 2ff7e9595c
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