Sporting Bygones: Quartet get ready to head for Australia en route to great things with England

Graham Stevenson, Ian Botham, Bill Athey and Mike Gatting were the beneficiaries of sponsorship which allowed them to spend three months in Australia playing in grade cricket and being coached – batsmen Gatting and Athey in Sydney and all-rounders Stevenson and Botham in Melbourne – under former England Ashes-winning fast bowler Frank Tyson, one of the driving forces behind the creation of the famed Australian Cricket Academy.

Now living at Ravensworth in North Yorkshire, Botham – Sir Ian in recognition of his amazing fund-raising walks for charity – was to make the biggest impact on the game and is still deeply involved as one of Sky TV's commentary team.

He scored 5,200 runs and took 383 wickets in 102 Tests but proved an unsuccessful captain during a 12-match reign in 1980-81.

Although his career was occasionally mired in controversy, Botham is one of nature's extroverts and rarely allowed himself to be subdued for long, learning much during his formative years with Somerset when he came under the influence of Brian Close, one of the game's great post-war captains.

Botham began his first-class career as a 19-year-old in 1974 and quickly made a name for himself. Hit in the mouth by a delivery from Hampshire's West Indian fast bowler Andy Roberts, Botham spat out his broken teeth and carried on batting as though nothing had happened.

He eventually resigned from Somerset in protest at the club's decision not to re-engage his great friends Viv Richards and Joel Garner and joined Worcestershire. He later played for Durham and also enjoyed a season with Queensland. In all he claimed 1,172 first-class wickets at an average of 27.22, made 19,399 runs at 33.97 and held 354 catches.

Mike Gatting was another to enjoy a colourful career, famously arguing with umpire Shakoor Rana while leading England in a Test match in Faisalabad, losing the captaincy of the national side after an alleged fling with a barmaid, falling to Shane Warne's first ball in Test cricket and having an awesome appetite, but without doubt his greatest achievement was in leading England on their Ashes-winning tour of 1986-87.

He was a superb batsman who scored 4,409 runs in 79 Tests spread over 17 years, with a break in the middle after leading a 'rebel' tour to South Africa, and a respected captain of Middlesex – where he spent his entire first-class career – from 1983 to 1997.

From a sporting family – his brother Steve played for Arsenal – Gatting's potential as a young cricketer was immense but he found the transition from the county game to Test level difficult, not reaching three figures until his 54th Test innings. Once he made the breakthrough he was a formidable player with a highest score in Test cricket of 207, against India in Madras (now Chennai).

Gatting retired from first-class cricket in 1998 and has since worked as a coach and commentator. He serves on the MCC committee and served as President of the Lord's Taverners in 2005-6.

Bill Athey, born in Middlesbrough in September 1957 and raised on the superb batting wicket at Acklam Park, where his father helped prepare the ground for club and county matches, was soon earmarked by Yorkshire as a youngster with the ability to become one of the game's leading run-makers.

Known from his early days as "Bumper" for his fearless ability to hook anything short, Athey made his county debut in 1976 and was seen at Headingley as the likely successor to Geoffrey Boycott as opener for Yorkshire and England. Ironically, it was his disaffection with the politics surrounding Boycott which led to him leaving Yorkshire for Gloucestershire at the end of the 1983 season.

In his 151 matches for the county Athey made 6,320 runs at an average of 28.08 while in his 23 Tests he scored 919 runs at 22.97, the highlights being his 96 while sharing an opening stand of 223 with Chris Broad at Perth on Gatting's 1986-87 tour and his only Test century, 123 at Lord's in 1987.

Athey rose to captain his adopted county in 1989 and moved to Sussex in 1993, reaching 25,000 first-class runs during a century against Somerset four years later. His career record underlined his quality: he made 25,453

first-class runs at 35.69 including 55 centuries and held 429 catches. He later coached Worcestershire and now teaches at Dulwich College.

The fourth member of the select group waiting to board the flight to Sydney, Graham Stevenson had the all-round ability to match Botham but lacked the confidence of his contemporary and never quite fulfilled his potential although he enjoyed memorable moments for Yorkshire and England.

Born in Ackworth in December 1955, Stevenson was nicknamed "Moonbeam" by Don Wilson when he first appeared, grinning broadly, in Yorkshire's dressing room as a teenager. He could bowl genuinely fast, generating formidable bounce, hit the ball miles and threw it like a shell from the outfield.

He played in only two Tests – the first against India in 1980, the other against the West Indies the following year – which barely reflected his ability but on one occasion he played a match-winning innings for his country.

Against an Australian attack led by Jeff Thomson in a floodlit one-day match in Sydney, England needed 35 runs to win with two wickets in hand and 30 balls left when Stevenson joined his county colleague David Bairstow in the middle.

They left grinning broadly shortly afterwards, Stevenson having smashed a rapid 28 which left the normally voluble Aussie crowd speechless.

Another superb innings came when, batting at No 11, he joined Boycott in a stand of 149 – a Yorkshire record – against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, making an unbeaten 115.

His best day with the ball came when he claimed the first eight Northamptonshire wickets to fall at Headingley in 1980 but sadly had to leave the field injured and was denied the opportunity to complete the "all 10" feat.

In 177 first-class matches for Yorkshire he scored 3,856 runs at 20.84, took 464 wickets at 28.56 and held 73 catches.

He played his last match for the county in 1986 and had a season with Northants before retiring. He has suffered ill health in recent years.