Editing Follow-on (section)

====Botham's Test: England v Australia, Headingley, 1981====
In 1981, England's [[Ian Botham]] was performing poorly as captain against the [[Australian cricket team in England in 1981|touring Australians]]. The Australian team was rated as second only to the great [[West Indies cricket team|West Indies team]] of the time, and contained a formidable pace attack in the form of [[Dennis Lillee]], [[Terry Alderman]] and [[Geoff Lawson (cricketer)|Geoff Lawson]]. After a loss and a draw in the first two [[Test cricket|Test match]]es of the summer's six-test [[Ashes series]], Botham resigned the captaincy.

[[Mike Brearley]], the captain Botham had replaced, resumed the reins for the third Test, at [[Headingley Cricket Ground|Headingley]]. This started out very badly: Australia scored 401 ([[John Dyson (cricketer, born 1954)|John Dyson]] 102; [[Kim Hughes]] 89; but Botham took 6–95), and asked England to follow on after bowling them out for 174 (Lillee took 4–49; Lawson 3–32). The one bright point in the innings came from Botham, who top scored with 50 (his first since he had been made captain 13 matches earlier). In the second innings, Botham came to the crease with England on 105 for 5, still 126 behind. Matters did not improve: [[Geoffrey Boycott]] and [[Bob Taylor (cricketer)|Bob Taylor]] soon followed, and with England 135 for 7 and still 92 runs behind an innings defeat looked likely.

By all accounts, everyone on both sides thought the game was lost. [[Ladbrokes]] famously offered 500–1 against England winning the Headingley Test. When [[Graham Dilley]] joined him at the crease, Botham reportedly said, "Right then, let's have a bit of fun."  Botham, with able support from the lower order, went on to make 149 not out, and gave England a slender lead of 129. The next day a fired-up [[Bob Willis]] took 8 for 43, and Australia slumped to 111 all out.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17031/scorecard/63291/england-vs-australia-3rd-test-australia-tour-of-england-1981/ |title=3rd Test, Australia tour of England at Leeds, Jul 16–21 1981 |website=[[ESPNcricinfo]] |access-date=31 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180331110928/http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/17031/scorecard/63291/england-vs-australia-3rd-test-australia-tour-of-england-1981/ |archive-date=31 March 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>