Ian Botham smashes Australia at WACA Perth Jan 1st 1987 

Yeah, he did wear one sometimes later in his career but only against the quickest seamers. He was always more comfortable without it.

Yes my favorite

Andrew Wilkins lawry has a very silly high voice and uttered the tritest of platitudes when he used to commentate. Thank fukkcc he retired.

@@hyena131 I am also Miss this three legend

Now you completed your fifty 😜😜

Yes, I am now 52 (celebrated my fiftieth two years ago during the Covid lockdown!)

@Planet of the Deaf Ha! You'd have to convince Botham 1st to embrace modern fitness regimes - or any kind of fitness regime. Good luck with that:)

Yep. Raw power. Different technique these days, but I imagine he'd have been at the forefront of working out how to adapt to T-20 had he been playing. 68 off 39 is good now, back then it was ridiculous. Over 250 was a pretty good score in 50 overs back then too!

and modern short boundaries.

Beefy playing hook shots with no helmet on is absolutely iconic :)

@@cquilty1 probably adapted with the times.. just as they did from the previous era..

yes - have to agree. We are lucky these days too with Stokes etc - it will be a while before it gets this good again

Actually statistically, it's close between Beefy and Stokes now. Botham was the better bowler by far, but Stokes the better batsman. In-between these types of heroic innings, Botham actually had quite a lot of failures and his batting averages weren't great and certainly nowhere near as good as Stokes.

As a Aussie I'd have him in my tesm

ben stokes.

Do you mean Gatting?

no imran khan was

@@ghplayer1992 Not according to the ICC world rankings he wasn’t.

@@davidbrooks187 it doesn't matter when the world says he is and was also in icc rankings to no.1 for a long long time no fight i love beefy to but Imran khan was the real deal back t hen

@@ghplayer1992 Beefy at his best was incomparable.....either bat or ball, he blew teams away, ask any captain who was the one opposition player they feared could change a match during the late 70's & 80's it was either Viv Richards or Beefy. Statistics are rendered meaningless, it was his ability to change matches....Imran was a great cricketer and had probably better stats but he didnt change the course of games like Beefy

@Shabda Sound Botham & Sobers definitely the two greatest all-rounders ever. Different eras, both very complimentary of each other.

Ben Stokes is heading that way

Freddie ffs!

dont forget gary sobers

Gary sobers, and jaque Kallis think differently

@@joedennehy386 they can think differently all they want they were great players no doubt. Botham owns them hands down if you think otherwise you dont know cricket.

who is Simon Davis?

@@simonhill1590 🤣 A daft Aussie bowler at the time. Go Google it, stupid. No wonder that you're so daft‼️.. The bloke was the one who got smashed by Beefy head in this match. Beefy destroyed Davis's economy rate from his previous season against India in Oz during the 1986/87 WSC.

Botham's old Somerset side, with Viv Richards and Joel Garner, would have been pure box office at 20/20.

@@Wally-H absolutely!

Imran Khan's Charisma And Personality In Today's Era Then Imran Khan ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Now Pat Cumminz ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Raised in Cape Town.

Usual standard comment from a member of the 'It was so much better in my day' brigade. The game evolves. players like Buttler and Stokes would have been successful in Botham's era as well

@@scottfletcher9134 I didn’t say that the players of today aren’t as good as those from the past. The players today are brilliant and hit some amazing shots. I was just making the point that Botham hit the ball that far with a thinner bat with bigger boundaries. Today’s players would probably do the same thing in that era but he was amazing for his time.

@@paulb5680 Beefy used a big hefty bat so if they are even bigger now it would be scary what he would do. Likewise Viv Richards in T20 would have been total carnage

Actually he used a 3lb bat. Most of todays players use much lighter bats, but because the bats haven't been 'pressed' they look just as big as the one he used plus they have a bigger sweet spot as well.

That's the biggest difference these days - the ball can fly over the ropes if you miss-time it and don't get it in the middle. In Botham's day you had to middle it@@danielmartinbowen3844

You should watch Beefy smacking Lillee for multiple sixes in his century during Botham's Ashes, again without a helmet.

@@AnkitSingh-xl6pt I was eleven at that time and had just left junior school!

@@angelacooper2661 Probably you saw it in that case. And more importantly, enjoyed the euphoria.

@zach gavelton and it is a shame Perth hasn’t had any international cricket since 2019

@zach gavelton it certainly is a Great ground

@@AnalogTVMainChannel Yeah, unique in the world really. Or was!

@@AnalogTVMainChannel Was a great ground, even after the renovations are complete it won't have that waca charm.

Those old Fearnley bats were and still are superb. I've got a couple of the Old Magnums they are excellent, and a Graeme Hick 405. Just need a decent Botham Attack.

Very!

Played for Queensland for a few seasons down there

He was brilliant

sad to see, right!

@@simonhill1590 Well not really, as an old git miself It's understandable. as he's hardly in a position to advertise 'stick with it all night? erection pills, now is he? Going back to the late 70's onward I had a very bad accident which confined to home for months. The tele in those days was a joke and when I switched it on, horror of horrors, it was cricket, but I watched it anyway, no choice. and a fella arrived at the crease and blasted a quick century before dinner and I remember thinking, I could get to like this sport. That man was Botham. a fully deserved national hero.

Get him up here!

He would more likely fight with an owner of an Ipl team and be banned

It's an oval

"Sharon!"