Sir Ian Botham to Deliver MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture

English cricket legend Sir Ian Botham will deliver the 14th MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's on September 3.

The iconic all-rounder turned commentator will become the fourth Englishman to give the address after Geoffrey Boycott in 2005, Christopher Martin-Jenkins in 2007 and Tony Greig in 2012.

Botham, who represented MCC Young Cricketers early in his career, scored 14 centuries and took 383 wickets in 102 Tests for England and appears on the Lord's Honours Board ten times.

After the lecture, broadcaster Mark Nicholas will host a question and answer session with Botham and a selected panel, discussing topics arising from the Lecture and other issues prevalent in world cricket.

Previous MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecturers have included South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2008 and Sri Lanka wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara - whose address was widely praised for its heartfelt and erudite appraisal of cricket in his home country.

MCC president Mike Gatting said: "I am very pleased and grateful that Ian will be delivering this year's lecture. As a former teammate of mine for many years, I know how passionate he is about the game and I am looking forward to hearing what he has to say.

"He is such a big personality and has achieved almost all there is to achieve in the game so I'm sure this will be a compelling and very entertaining evening.

"The MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture is an extremely important date for MCC, but especially so in this Lord's Bicentenary year. The Lecture always produces intriguing discussion points and I'm sure this year will be no different."

The evening begins at 6:30pm in the Nursery Pavilion at Lord's.