SL friendliest country in the world: Botham

Saturday, 17 August 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Shabiya Ali Ahlam One of cricket’s greatest personalities Sir Ian Botham, or ‘Beefy’ as he is fondly known, on Thursday gave a major fillip to destination Sri Lanka when he described the nation as the “friendliest” in the world. In a widely covered media engagement in Colombo to announce his humanitarian fund raising initiative Beefy’s Big Walk’, Botham said Sri Lanka is beautiful and immensely welcoming. “It always feels great to come back to Sri Lanka. It is the friendliest country in the world and I mean it sincerely,” said Botham who was in the country along with his wife and daughter. This as well as his passion for the causes he champions has made Botham a frequent traveller to Sri Lanka.

Botham figured in the England side in Sri Lanka’s first test in 1982 in Colombo. Having retired from international cricket in 1993, Botham visited Sri Lanka two decades later in 2005 following the tsunami as part of a delegation with Laureus Sports Foundation for Goodness, UK. He was noted to have played a key role in the establishment of a Foundation for Goodness project to help rebuild the shattered community. He recalled that he was “horrified” and “completely shocked” to have listened to the tales of young children forced to fight in the war, and to witness the remains of the villages and lands ravaged. He returned in 2009 to oversee the launch of the sports centre in the Southern town of Seenigama which was badly affected by the 2004 natural disaster. Botham made a third visit to Sri Lanka in 2011 to launch a similar sports complex in the north which was greatly impacted by the 30-year war. 57-year old Botham’s passion to extend a helping hand to Sri Lanka has manifested further with the decision to have ‘Beefy’s Big Walk’ in Sri Lanka in November this year, making it the first ever outside venue from UK in the walk’s history since 1985. He will be walking from Killinochchi to Seenigama in Galle, covering a total distance of 160 miles over a period of eight days from 1 to 8 November 2013. Each day, Botham will be joined by cricketers such as Shane Warne, Michael Vaughan, Sourav Ganguly, Muttiah Muralitharan, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene. He launched Beef’s Big Walk 28 years ago, taking up a 900-mile trek from John O’Groats to Land’s End in Scotland with the aim of supporting leukaemia and lymphoma research. Botham raised over one million pounds in his first project. To date, he has had over 14 walks and has raised over 13 million pounds for different causes in the UK. He received his knighthood in recognition of his services to charity. Regarded as one of the greatest cricketing all-rounders of all time, Botham has 102 Test caps to his credit, scoring 5,200 runs including 14 centuries and taking 383 wickets. He also held a number of Test cricket records, and still holds the record for the highest number of wickets taken by an England bowler.