Bowling plans were 'stolen' from England, says Botham

Myles Hodgson
Thursday 28 December 2006 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Ian Botham was adamant that England's bowling plans, which were read out on air yesterday, were stolen from the team's dressing room during the fourth Ashes Test here.

The former England batsman David Gower, discussing the leaked plans here on Sky Sports, asked Botham about how the document was "found". Botham replied: "You say found... It was a stolen piece of paper out of the dressing room and should not be stolen. Just who was in the dressing room and what else has been stolen?"

The ABC radio commentator Jim Maxwell felt the station had done little wrong by reading out the plans on air after being e-mailed a copy of England's tactics for dealing with the Australia's batsmen. Unfortunately for England the plans appeared to have little impact as Australia reached 372 for 7 on the second day, a lead of 213.

"It was an attachment to an e-mail which seemed to specify the plans for all the Australian batsmen," Maxwell said. "It was a lovely bit of information about all the Australia batsmen and their weaknesses and what England needed to do to get them out. I can't see how any harm has been done. If this gets out into the open it is not earth-shattering news, is it? Whatever the tactics they weren't working."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in