Liam Botham

Botham was born in Doncaster and initially followed in his father's footsteps, playing county cricket for Hampshire. He played 3 matches in the 1996 season.[1] He took the wicket of former England captain Mike Gatting on his County Championship début.

After retiring from rugby, there were signs that he might return to playing competitive cricket; in 2006 he played in an England XI victory against Lancashire in a testimonial match for Andrew Flintoff at Old Trafford.

He left cricket in 1997 after one senior season and signed for rugby union club West Hartlepool, where he played as a wing or fullback. He later moved to Cardiff and Newcastle Falcons.

While at Newcastle the club won the 2001 Tetley Bitter Cup, in the final of which he was a replacement,[2] and reached the final of the European Shield.

Botham made his début for the England under-21 team in 1997 against France, and then played in the SANZAR tournament in South Africa in 1998.[3] He was called up to the senior England squad by Clive Woodward for their 2000 tour of South Africa.[4] He played in tour matches against the Leopards and Griqualand West[5][6] but never won a senior international cap.

After becoming disillusioned with rugby union, he switched sports again in 2003 to rugby league. He initially joined the Bradford Bulls and had a short spell playing for their academy team. He then signed a dual-code contract with Super League club Leeds Rhinos, who felt that signing the inexperienced Botham was less of a risk as he also played for their partner rugby union club Leeds Tykes.

In 2004, Botham also played for London Broncos on loan, and in 2005 signed for Wigan Warriors, feeling he could not get a regular place in the Rhinos team. In his three seasons in rugby league, usually as a second-row, he played 28 senior games, scoring 7 tries and 6 goals.[7]

In 2005, he announced his retirement aged 27 after a neck injury.