Cricket equipment � champions � Ian Botham

Beefy Botham is known for his skill with his cricket equipment and as a tireless champion cancer charities campaigner.

Guy the Gorilla

Ian �Beefy' Botham was awarded an OBE in 1992. Born on November 24, 1955 in Heswall, Cheshire , Beefy was one of England 's best-ever cricketers and one of the best all-round cricketers of all time. In a Test career spanning 15 years from 1977, he scored 5,200 runs at 33.54, and took 383 wickets at an average of 28.40. Similarly successful at one-day cricket, he was a Wisden cricketer of the year in 1978. His averages belie his reputation as one of the greatest match winners of the game. He tended to play to extremes, so if he played well, he often seemed to use his cricket equipment to win the match on his own and remain the unbeaten champion.

Big hitter

Beefy was renowned as a big-hitting batsman, but with a surprisingly classical technique, and as a fast-medium paced swing bowler who could be very effective indeed when atmospheric conditions favoured his style. In his later career after a back injury, his pace diminished to no more than a gentle medium, but he retained the knack of taking wickets. The champion continued to use his cricket equipment to achieve this largely because he still had the ability to "move the ball in the air". As Fred Trueman often said, "the outswinger is the ball that gets the great batsmen".

An unhappy captaincy

In 1980, Botham was appointed captain of the England team. However, his captaincy was not a happy one; he lost form and the team did not do well. For once the big man's cricket equipment did not deliver a championship performance. There was also an incident in the 1980 centenary Test against Australia at Lord's where several frustrated Lord's pavilion members threw punches at him, after what they saw as his alliance with the umpires to unnecessarily delay play on a dry, sunny, Saturday (it had rained heavily the previous night).

Walking for charity

The cancer charities' champion has switched his cricket equipment for his walking boots, and Botham has already clocked up a remarkable 6,500 miles and raised more than £8million on his charity walks.  His most recent crusade involved trekking the streets of 17 British cities, starting in Belfast and ending in London , covering 170 miles in nine days. Beefy is a passionate supporter of cancer charities and funds from this trek will be split between Leukaemia Research and the Teenage Cancer Trust.   Whilst six teenagers and young adults are diagnosed every day with cancer, the survival rate has increased from 20% to 80% over the past 20 years.  Botham is recorded as having declared that he won't stop walking until a 100% survival rate is achieved.

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