Sir Ian Botham will be one of four guests-of-honour paying tribute to Brian Close this October, at a specially arranged dinner to celebrate the 60th anniversary of him becoming England’s youngest ever Test cricketer, a record he holds to this day.

Sir Ian Botham will be one of four guests-of-honour paying tribute to Brian Close this October, at a specially arranged dinner to celebrate the 60th anniversary of him becoming England’s youngest ever Test cricketer, a record he holds to this day.

During a sporting career lasting over 30 years, Close scored 35,000 first-class runs, took 1,168 wickets, captained Yorkshire, Somerset and England, played football for Leeds United and Arsenal and had golf handicaps of 5 when playing left handed and 2 when playing right handed.  Not surprisingly, he is often thought of as being the ultimate sportsman.

Joining Sir Ian on the night will be the ECB’s chairman of selectors Geoff Miller, as well as former Yorkshire teammates John Hampshire and Bryan Stott.