United rivals- The all time best Ashes XI

6. Sir Ian Botham (England):

Ashes statistics – Matches: 36. Runs: 1,673. Average: 29.35. Centuries: Four. Highest Ashes score: 149*. Best Ashes figures: 6-78.

If not the best all-rounder, “Beefy” is certainly the greatest match-winner – and nothing spurred him on, more than a Test against the old enemy. He proved a thorn in the sides of successive Australian skippers, dismissing both Kim Hughes and Allan Border a dozen times. And there was also Botham’s batting. Two of his four Ashes centuries came in 1981, when he was at his peak. Having resigned from the position of captain after bagging a pair at Lord’s, Botham turned the tide of the Headingley Test and, in turn, the series. He was a captain’s dream with bat and ball as well as being a towering presence in the slips, taking 57 of 120 Test catches against Australia. In his own words: “The Australian philosophy of ‘work hard, play hard’ has always appealed to me”.