Ian Botham marks 50th anniversary of senior cricket match at Somerset

He was the larger-than-life character on and off the pitch, fondly known as Beefy, and described by one of his first team captains as "a force of nature".

Sir Ian Botham's international career lasted from 1974 until 1993 and saw him scoring 19,399 runs and taking 1,172 wickets in 402 matches.

But this Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the first senior match the famous all-rounder played for Somerset County Cricket Club.

Sir Ian said: "I was very surprised to be out there but it was great. It gave me a taste and I certainly wanted more of it."

He described himself, then 17, as "ambitious and keen to learn" and that one of those he looked up to and had a lot of influence on his style was the West Indies star Sir Viv Richards.

Former Somerset director of cricket Brian Rose told BBC Radio Somerset about the young Beefy being a rarity and an "obvious talent".

"What was very noticeable when he came back to us having done a stint at the MCC was that he was amazing, he had so much pace and strength in that arm."

"I just thought 'he's going to play for England.'

"He was a force of nature and you could see he was going to do something as he had such determination and such an outgoing personality."

The cricketing giant was born in Cheshire but later his family moved to Yeovil, Somerset, when his dad began working for the British aircraft manufacturer Westland Helicopters.

"My father was a very good sportsman, so he played football for the navy, he loved his cricket so he played for the Westland Helicopters," Sir Ian said.

"I used to go along to every game with my bag there in case five-a-side was short. I didn't care who I was playing for," he added.

A natural sportsman, Sir Ian was also a talented footballer, but chose cricket over a career in football and was a big fan of both from a young age.

"Dad and I went to a lot of games. We come from a working class background, so it cost a lot of money to travel around playing cricket.

"They sacrificed a lot, so I have a lot to thank them for," he said.

The senior debut for Somerset on 2 September 1973 saw him playing in a John Player League (JPL) match against Sussex at Hove.

Sir Ian also developed an affinity with his first county captain Brian Close, who became a mentor to him and played a massive role in his career.

Brian Rose said Closer's strength was that he was able to "dominate" Sir Ian. "It was a quiet dressing room then," he remembers. "A game changer."

"He kept our feet on the ground because we were both going through meteoric rising in the game," Sir Ian said.

"He kept us firmly in place. He put an arm around us when it went well and put an arm around us when it went badly

"By the age of 18, he started to believe I could get on the England team," added Sir Ian.

Sir Ian's Somerset career ended acrimoniously in 1986 in protest at the sacking of fellow players Viv Richards and Joel Garner.

When asked about it even now he cannot bring himself to mention his successor, Peter Roebuck's name.

He went on to play for Worcestershire for five seasons and Durham for two, retiring in 1993.

Although the ground has changed considerably since his youth, Sir Ian says the memories he has of the ground are "magnificent".

Speaking about the future of Somerset County Cricket Club, Sir Ian said it looked bright.

"It's the kind of ground where you feel like you want to be part of it.

"It becomes engrained. It's part of you. It's a great ground to play at," he added.

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