Bob Cottam

Robert Michael Henry Cottam (born 16 October 1944) is an English former professional cricketer who played in four Test matches between 1969 and 1972 and in English county cricket with Hampshire from 1963 to 1971 and Northamptonshire from 1972 to 1976, before spending two years playing minor counties cricket with Devon in 1977 and 1978. During the 1960s with Hampshire, Cottam was part of a three-pronged pace bowling attack that consisted of himself, Derek Shackleton, and Butch White. Against Lancashire in the 1965 County Championship, he took figures of 9 wickets for 25 runs, the best innings bowling figures by a Hampshire player as of .

He made his Test debut for England against Pakistan in February 1969 on the winter tour to Ceylon and Pakistan, playing two of the three Test matches on the tour and finishing as England's leading wicket-taker. Having felt unsettled at Hampshire, Cottam moved to Northamptonshire ahead of the 1972 season. While playing for Northamptonshire, Cottam earned a recall to the Test team, playing two further Test matches against India on the 1972–73 winter tour. He left Northamptonshire at the end of the 1976 season, and briefly played minor counties cricket for Devon. In 289 first-class matches, he took over 1,000 wickets, and in 133 List A one-day matches he took 180 wickets. At Test level, he took 14 wickets.

Moving into coaching, Cottam was the National Cricket Association's chief coach for the West Country. In 1988, he was appointed cricket manager at Warwickshire, where he won the 1989 NatWest Trophy. He left the county at the end of the 1991 season, following a dispute with its captain Andy Lloyd and their cricket committee. He then joined Somerset as their director of coaching in December 1991, a role he held until the conclusion of the 1996 season. After leaving Someset, he was bowling coach for the England team between 1998 and 2001, later assisting Scotland in 2005.

Early life Cottam was born in Cleethorpes on 16 October 1944. His family moved south to Alperton near Wembley as a child, where he was educated at Lyon Park Primary School and captained a combined Wembley Primary Schools side. He then spent a year at Alperton County School, before his parents relocated to Berkshire, and represented combined Berkshire schools. He received coaching from Alf Gover and at the Middlesex indoor school in Finchley; despite the latter, he came to the attention of Hampshire, and began playing for their Second XI in 1961. With fast bowler Derek Shackleton playing for England during the summer, Cottam gained opportunities to play in the first team throughout the summer, making 13 appearances in the Championship. with his season-best figures of 6 wickets for 10 runs taking Hampshire to victory against Leicestershire at Portsmouth in August. He played less in the first eleven during the 1964 season, making 11 appearances and taking 25 wickets at 27.52. He then played in their second-round defeat to Warwickshire.

Cottam established himself in the side in 1965, making 22 first-class appearances. in Lancashire's unsuccessful chase of 116 runs, Cottam did not take any further wickets. His 9 for 25 were the best innings figures by a Hampshire bowler, a record which remains as of . Across the season, he took 73 wickets at 18.31, with three further five-wicket hauls; In one-day cricket, he made three appearances in Hampshire's run to the quarter-final of the Gillette Cup, Cottam's form in 1965 led to speculation that he might be selected for England's winter tour to Australia, but he was not chosen in the 12-man touring party. At the beginning of the 1966 season, he played for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against Yorkshire at Lord's. He also made four one-day appearances in Hampshire's run to the semi-final in the Gillette Cup, taking 9 wickets at 17.22. in a performance the Nottingham Evening Post described as "hostile". Against Middlesex in the Championship in August, Cottam was last-man out in Hampshire's chase of 167, with his dismissal to Bob Herman resulting in the first tied first-class match since December 1961. He played three matches in the 1967 Gillette Cup, taking 5 wickets as Hampshire reached the competition's quarter-final. Amongst his the nine five wicket hauls he took in 1968, In June at Basingstoke, he took 7 for 61 against Warwickshire, with overall match figures of 10 for 87, and in July, he took 6 for 14 to dismiss Nottinghamshire for 85 runs. His form during the season led to his selection for the MCC President's XI against the touring Australians at Lord's in August, where he took two wickets. He was named Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year in October 1968.

Test debut Cottam's form in 1968 led to his selection for the MCC winter tour to South Africa, though the tour was ultimately cancelled in the wake of the D'Oliveira affair. He went on the MCC tour to Ceylon and Pakistan in early 1969, where he made his Test debut for England against Pakistan at Lahore on 21 February, taking 4 for 50 and 2 for 35 in the Pakistani first and second innings respectively. Four days after the conclusion of the first Test, Cottam played in the second Test at Dacca, He did not play in the third Test at Karachi. With 9 wickets, Cottam was England's leading wicket taker in the Test matches. Prior to the Test series, he played in the first-class fixture against Ceylon at Colombo, and in Pakistan he played in three first-class matches. Amongst the eight five wicket hauls he took during the season was 7 for 32 in a defeat against Nottinghamshire at Basingstoke in the final Championship match of the season. With further proliferation of the one-day game in county cricket during the 1969 season, which came via the introduction of Sunday League, Cottam found played regular one-day cricket. Following the retirement of Shackleton after the 1969 season, Cottam led the Hampshire attack alongside White, however, an injury in July ruled White out for the remainder of the season. Cottam took 77 wickets at 25.81 in 22 first-class matches, and Essex (10 for 95) in July. He made 17 appearances in one-day cricket in 1971, taking 23 wickets at 21.

Move to Northamptonshire Despite interest from Leicestershire and Middlesex, Cottam joined Northamptonshire. His move, and that of Bob Willis from Surrey to Warwickshire, paved the way for a change in the rule for players transferring between counties; they previously had to wait a year before they could appear in a competitive match for a new county. Although their applications to forgo the one-year qualification period were not supported by their counties, the registration sub-committee of the Test and County Cricket Board clear Cottam to play for Northamptonshire in the County Championship from 17 June 1971, causing him to miss a handful of matches at the beginning of the 1972 season. He made 15 first-class appearances for Northamptonshire during the season, In one-day cricket, he made seven appearances, taking 10 wickets at 19.80. On the Indian leg of the tour, he featured in two first-class warm-up matches, He then played in the second Test at Calcutta, He did not play in the final three Test matches against India, nor did he feature in the three Test matches that followed against Pakistan, having been dropped in favour of Geoff Arnold. He did, however, play a handful of first-class matches following his Test apprearances. Despite injury, he managed to take 56 first-class wickets at 19.66, claiming five wickets or more in an innings on four occasions, and 7 for 100 against Kent. Cottam suffered an injury in early July, at which point in the season he had taken 36 first-class wickets at 16.22,

Minor Counties cricket Cottam joined minor county Devon as their professional ahead of the 1977 season. He made eight appearances in the 1977 Minor Counties Championship, and was the second highest wicket-taker in the competition with 43 at 12.44, two behind Suffolk's Robin Hobbs. The following season, he made one appearance in the Minor Counties Championship,

Playing style and statistics Cottam was a tall 6 foot 3 inches (1.9 metres), right-arm fast-medium bowler who bowled with a slingy action. The cricket writer Christopher Martin-Jenkins described him as a "persistent" bowler with good stamnia, with fellow cricket writer Martin Williamson noting that he bowled with "unerring accuracy". Writing in the Sports Argus, the journalist W. C. Wanklyn observed that his bowling was a "great deal quicker" than it looked. When he moved to Northamptonshire, he reduced the speed of his bowling and came to rely more upon delivering cutters to dismiss batsmen. The cricket writer Bill Frindall opined that he was a "daunting prospect on responsive pitches", where he was able to extract sharp bounce. Martin-Jenkins later wrote the Cottam was an effective one-day bowler.

Cottam made 289 first-class appearances, taking 1,010 wickets at 20.91; he took five wickets or more in an innings 58 times, and ten wickets in a match six. For Northamptonshire, he took 241 first-class wickets at 20.23 from 76 matches, with 17 five wicket hauls. Although better suited to English conditions, his only Test caps came on tours of the subcontinent, where the selectors favoured his cutters on turning wickets; although it transpired that the pitches did not favour him, A tailend batsman, he scored 1,278 first-class runs in his career, at a batting average of 6.98; he made one half-century, an unbeaten 62 runs. In December 1981, he was the National Cricket Association's chief cricket coach for the West Country, a role he held until 1987, when he was appointed Warwickshire's cricket manager. The county won the 1989 NatWest Trophy under his management. He left Warwickshire in October 1990, following a feud with captain Andy Lloyd, and citing "a total lack of confidence" with their cricket committee.

In December 1991, Cottam signed a five-year contract with Somerset to become their coaching director, but was released by Someset following the 1996 season, with one-year still left on his contract. He returned to Warwickshire in November 1996, as a part-time bowling consultant. He was chosen by England's coach David Lloyd in June 1998, a role he maintained until 2001; He expressed his "utter disappointment" in being replaced by Graham Dilley for England's winter tours to New Zealand and India. During his time with England, he developed the new ball bowling pair of Andy Caddick and Darren Gough, and helped Dominic Cork rediscover the ability to swing the ball. and in December of the same year he was coaching at the International Cricket Council's Winter Training Centre in Pretoria.

Personal life Cottam has been married twice, firstly to Jackie, and secondly to Yvonne. He has three sons: Andy, David, and Michael. Andy played first-class cricket for Derbyshire and Somerset, while Michael played minor counties cricket for Devon. As of 2023, Cottam was living in Dartmouth, Devon.

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