[ad_1]
England and the West Indies will contest the brand new Richards-Botham Trophy once they subsequent meet in a Test sequence, the England and Wales Cricket Board introduced Thursday. The trophy has been named in honour of West Indies batting nice Vivian Richards and celebrated England all-rounder Ian Botham, who had been team-mates at English county Somerset earlier than changing into opponents on the world stage. It would be the Wisden Trophy that’s up for grabs when the third and ultimate Test of the present marketing campaign will get underway at Old Trafford on Friday, with England and the West Indies locked at 1-1.
That was launched in 1963 to mark the centenary of the Wisden Almanack ‘cricket’s bible’, with Caribbean cricket nice Learie Constantine a key mover behind its inception.
But former England captain Mike Atherton just lately recommended the groups ought to compete for a prize named after excellent cricketers as occurs when Australia and India contest the (Allan) Border-(Sunil) Gavaskar Trophy.
“This is a huge honour for my good friend Ian and myself,” stated Richards, who scored greater than 8,500 runs throughout a 121-Test profession.
“I am delighted to know that the game that I have shown my love for since a little boy is naming such a prestigious award in my recognition of what I managed to achieve as a cricketer,” added the 68-year-old Antiguan.
Richards reserved a lot of his greatest performances for England, together with an imposing 291 on the Oval in 1976 and a blistering unbeaten century in West Indies’ World Cup ultimate win at Lord’s three years later.
“When I had the chance to go to England and signify Somerset, one of many first individuals I met was Ian Botham, who would later turn out to be of 1 my greatest buddies.
“We had been opponents on the sector, however we confirmed we had been brothers off the sector.”
Botham, 64, who scored more than 5,000 runs and took 383 wickets in 102 Tests, said: “Viv was the best batsman I ever performed towards.
“He’s a great friend but we’ve always been competitive, not least when we were on the cricket field, and there was no one else’s wicket I would treasure more.
Promoted
“Playing the West Indies was at all times one of many hardest checks in cricket, and it is an honour for this trophy to bear our names.”
The Wisden Trophy will probably be ‘retired’ and displayed within the MCC Museum at Lord’s, the place it has historically been stored.
Topics talked about on this article
[ad_2]
Source link