After attending school in
Wembley, Cottam began his career at
Hampshire in 1963 and used his height, stamina and accuracy to good effect with the new ball. He took 100 wickets in a season on three occasions and took 9 for 25 against
Lancashire in 1965. Although ideally suited to English conditions, his only Test
caps came on tours of the
subcontinent, to
Pakistan and
Ceylon under
Colin Cowdrey in 1968–9, and
India and Pakistan in 1972–3 under
Tony Lewis. It was a testament to his skill that he took 14 wickets at 23.35 in his four tests, and he was unlucky to miss out on home selection. He switched counties to
Northants in 1971, his style of bowling evolving to concentrate on remorseless accuracy, and continued to be a prolific wicket taker. He took over a 1,000
first-class wickets in all, at an average of 20.91. Although skilled with the ball, he was a confirmed
tailender with the bat, recording just one half century in 289 first-class matches. He turned to coaching after retiring from the playing arena, appointed as
Warwickshire's manager and then
Somerset's director of cricket, before being picked by
David Lloyd to serve as England's bowling coach between 1998 and 2001. He also played
minor county cricket for
Devon. His son,
Andy Cottam, played first-class cricket for
Derbyshire and Somerset. ==References==