Test cricket remains the pinnacle for Ian Botham. “If we don’t have Test cricket, we don’t have cricket as I know it,” the former England captain said at the Tiger Pataudi Memorial Lecture, a joint initiative by The Bengal Club and The Telegraph, presented by Bhawanipur Global Campus and powered by Eden, on Tuesday evening.

The legendary all-rounder later engaged in a no-holds-barred talk with The Telegraph at The Bengal Club.

Excerpts:

Q: Do you think there’s a dearth of real all-rounders in cricket now?

A: No, I think there’s plenty around, a lot of them playing in the shorter formats
of the game, but (when it comes to) Test match all-rounders, maybe not so many around there.

Q: Is limited-overs cricket responsible for that?

A: Well, yeah... Because everyone has a bit of bowling, a bit of batting, whatever.

Q: You, along with Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee formed an intimidating quartet of all-rounders. But now it’s more of a bits-and-pieces player than genuine all-rounders.

A: I’ll be actually honest with you. I just think that things go in phases. We had a great era when the four of us were all playing. But you tell me how many times there’s been four and all four of that quality? You don’t see them (now). So it was just a freakish phase. But they’re still all around us. There are youngsters to come through who can do it. I don’t know if you’ll be able to see.

Q: Did the presence of, say, Kapil at the other end, like in the Golden Jubilee Test at the Wankhede in 1980 (114 runs and 13 wickets), spur you on?

A: No... Look, I think we all looked to see how we’re all going. In those days, it wasn’t as easy because of communications, so no mobile phones. But yes, look, I think that... We all looked to see if we’d done better than the other one.

Q: During the Lecture you said Rob Key should take the blame for the debacle in the Ashes.

A: What I said was he is the head of English cricket. So therefore, he must take responsibility for what happened with the team. He’s the top. You don’t start at the bottom, you start at the top and come down.

Q: Do you think Bazball can survive?

A: There’s no such thing as Bazball. It is something that the press came up with. Bazball, as I said to the guys, existed earlier... Between early 1984, probably ’78 to ’84, we were scoring at that rate. So, it’s nothing new.

Q: So, what is letting English cricket down? They lost the Ashes so badly.

A: That’s something I can’t answer because I wasn’t in the dressing room but I think the whole approach was wrong and I mentioned that tonight (during the Lecture on Tuesday). If you have no preparation then don’t be surprised if you lose.

Q: Can England turn around in the next Ashes?

A: Yeah, why not?

Q: You are positive about England?

A: I’m always positive.

Q: Was the ECB wrong to renew Brendon McCullum’s contract as head coach?

A: No. Why shouldn’t he be there?

Q: This debate about franchise leagues versus Test cricket: where do you stand?

A: Franchises are great and the money is important, but so long as the money goes in the right direction. And that is: you start at the bottom, grassroots, girls’ cricket, etc., and go not the other way around.

Q: Coming back to your playing days, there’s this notion that you never fulfilled your potential, especially in limited-overs cricket. Did you also feel that way?

A: Well, first and foremost, in limited-overs cricket, I was batting at No. 6 and 7, which is a nonsense. And once I started opening, we started winning. So it’s as simple as that. I was... pushing and pushing to bat higher up and eventually they did it and we got to the final of the World Cup in 1992.

Q: Do you regret any of the controversies you were involved in during your playing career?

A: Controversies? Controversy in what? What is a controversy? To me, I don’t think I’ve done anything that’s going to upset anybody.

Q: You once said that Pakistan was ‘the kind of place to send your mother-in-law for a month, all expenses paid’. Looking back, do you regret it?

A: I said my mother-in-law... Now that is actually a joke unless you get on with it... My mother-in-law I said it... What am I going to say (when asked) what do you think of Pakistan? I said it’s sort of a place I’d like to send my mother-in-law for a holiday all expenses paid and do you know she went.

So the press took her and they said it was great and if I hadn’t said that they wouldn’t have gone there.

Q: But it was always construed in a negative way.

A: No, not by me and the players, by you lot.

Q: Can you talk about your relationship with Ian Chappell... It’s one of the longest and most bitter personal feuds.

A: I couldn’t give a stuff about Ian Chappell, and he knows that, and the whole of
the world knows that. He can say what he wants, and I can say what I want. And as far as I’m concerned... If you look at the documentary that was done by Netflix (The Longest Feud), he looks a real goose.

Q: How did you look at your cricket? Did you look at it as a profession, as fun, as an enjoyment? What was the ideology in cricket?

A: I played cricket... Read the book that I’ve just written. It’s coming out soon. It is called Ride the Torpedo to the End of the Tube. And that is saying to you, go that way, don’t look behind.

Q: Now, do you have any political ideology?

A: No.

Q: Are you pained by what is happening around the world now?

A: If you’re not worried about what’s going on around the world, you shouldn’t be on this planet. Of course we are.