The Richards–Botham Trophy is a trophy awarded to the winner of

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

series played between

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. It is named after the former international players

Viv Richards Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards (born 7 March 1952) is a retired Antiguan cricketer who represented the West Indies cricket team between 1974 and 1991. Usually batting at number three in a dominant West Indies side, Richards is widely ...

and

Ian Botham Ian Terence Botham, Baron Botham (born 24 November 1955) is an English cricket commentator, member of the House of Lords, a former cricketer who has been chairman of Durham County Cricket Club since 2017 and charity fundraiser. Hailed as one of ...

, who played as rivals in West Indies–England fixtures, but were also team-mates at

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

and good friends. The trophy replaced the

Wisden Trophy The Wisden Trophy was awarded to the winner of the Test cricket series played between England cricket team, England and the West Indies cricket team, West Indies. It was first awarded in 1963 to commemorate the hundredth edition of Wisden Crick ...

, which was retired following the 2020 series between the two teams. Prior to the series, it was suggested by Andy Bull in the ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'' that a new trophy should be inaugurated in honour of West Indian cricketer

Learie Constantine Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine (21 September 19011 July 1971) was a Trinidadian cricketer, lawyer and politician who served as Trinidad and Tobago's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and became the UK's first black peer ...

. Writing in the ''

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specificat ...

'' a week later,

Mike Atherton Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the captaincy of E ...

proposed naming it the Richards–Botham Trophy instead. In March 2021,

Cricket West Indies Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Ind ...

(CWI) announced the fixtures of the first edition, to be played the following year. Winning West Indies captain,

Kraigg Brathwaite Kraigg Clairmonte Brathwaite (born 1 December 1992) is a Barbados, Barbadian cricketer and former Captain (cricket), captain of the West Indian cricket team, West Indies in Test cricket. He is a right-handed batsman and occasionally bowls off bre ...

, was presented with the inaugural trophy by

Ricky Skerritt Richard 'Ricky' Skerritt (born 7 June 1956) is a Saint Kitts and Nevis politician affiliated to the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party. He held several portfolios in the country's ministry from 2004 to 2015. He has also been closely associated with ...

and Dwain Gill (CWI president) at the Grenada National Cricket Stadium on 27 March 2022. Richards and Botham had revealed the trophy design at the

Sir Vivian Richards Stadium Sir Vivian Richards Stadium is a stadium in North Sound, Saint George, Antigua and Barbuda. It was built for use in the 2007 Cricket World Cup where it hosted Super 8 matches. The stadium usually caters for 10,000 people, but temporary seatin ...

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

on 7 Match, to coincide with Richards' 70th birthday.

List of series

References

Trophies Test cricket competitions West Indies in international cricket England in international cricket Cricket awards and rankings {{international-cricket-competition-stub

List of series

See also

References