Sir Ian Botham calls for expansion of cricket player exchange program between England and Australia to catapult rising stars to next level
SIR Ian Botham has called for the expansion of a cricket player exchange program between Australia and England to help young stars rise to the next level, during an Ashes battle with former rival but firm friend Jeff Thomson at Club Menangle.
Macarthur
Don't miss out on the headlines from Macarthur. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Vietnam veteran “stoked” to receive Australia Day award
- Cobbitty’s John Murray hopes his Australia Day award inspires others
SIR Ian Botham has called for the expansion of a cricket player exchange program between Australia and England to help young stars rise to the next level, during an Ashes battle with former rival but firm friend Jeff Thomson at Club Menangle.
Campbelltown-Camden Cricket Club was named as a great example of current programs with English cricketer Oliver Piper playing for the Sydney Grade Cricket side, while the audience heard Monty Panasar and Derek Pringle had also previously joined the club.
Mr Botham said expanding the exchange program would help more 18-year-olds learn from each country and he described how he had had such an opportunity as a rising star.
“The players can come over and learn to play (each country’s style of cricket) and it will catapult them to the next level. It’s something that needs to be expanded,’’ he said.
More than 200 people, including former Labor leader and former Werriwa federal MP Mark Latham, and retired rugby league stars Paul Sironen and Steve Blocker Roach, attended the Ashes battle on Thursday, which raised funds for junior cricket in the Macarthur area.
They heard Mr Botham, 62, a noted all-rounder and aggressive right-handed batsman, and Mr Thomson, 67, who some consider the fastest bowler of all time, share colourful stories of their days as international cricket superstars.
For more than two hours, they delighted the audience with their colourful stories of the on-field rivalries during the epic cricket battles between England and Australia, the strong mateship between the two sides, and the great fun they had after the games.
Mr Thomson beamed when Australia’s recent Ashes win was discussed at the event, while Mr Botham blamed England’s loss on playing “two Mickey Mouse games’’ in Australia and then going straight into the crucial series.
“You can’t do that over here. It’s a different light, different conditions,’’ he said.
Mr Botham also talked about how inspiring the traditional rivalry between the two countries was and he said a desire to beat Australia in any sport was in the genes.
“There’s nothing greater than beating Australia at home (England) but it’s better to beat Australia in Australia,’’ he said.
Mr Thomson also laid his demons to rest when he talked about that infamous Boxing Day Ashes test in Melbourne in 1982 when he and Allan Border were batting, and Australia needed three more runs to win but he was caught out.
Mr Botham bowled a shortish ball outside off-stump, and Mr Thomson recounted attempting to hit a single only to return to the change rooms when Geoff Miller took the catch.
Fired up, Mr Thomson and Australia then went on to Sydney to reclaim the Ashes.
Mr Botham had the audience laughing when he described with a smile his pre-match routine which sometimes included getting into a bath with a cigar, reading the form guide, having a cup of coffee, seeing the physio and then going to the game.
The audience laughed when Mr Thomson described meeting the Queen for the first time at Buckingham Palace in 1974, how he and a teammate stumbled into the throne room by mistake and the Queen then told him he was giving the English girls a hard time.
On a serious note, Mr Botham proudly talked about his 17 long-distance charity walks which he said had raised 40 million pounds ($56.7 million Australian) for groups including leukaemia research.
He proudly told the audience that when he started the charity walks, there was a 20 per cent survival rate for childhood leukaemia but now the survival rate was 94 per cent.
Mr Botham has now called time on the walks.
Just like they did during their incredible cricket careers, the popular duo had every die-hard fan in the room poised on their every action and word.