Cricket legend David Boon reveals why he's full of regret for famously drinking 52 beers on a flight to London
- David Boon is a cult hero for many Aussie cricket fans
- Is in relation to his beer drinking feats, not Test centuries
- Boon wishes he was remembered solely for his cricket exploits
David Boon is an Aussie cricket great - and his famous feat of drinking 52 beers on a flight to London ahead of the 1989 Ashes series saw him develop cult hero status with sports fans.
Now 62, Boon has explained why he regrets the off-field half century that is at least as well known as anything he did on the pitch.
'I've got to be brutally honest here, I won't deny it happened....we all do stupid things in our lives,' he said on the BackChat Sports Show that resurfaced online recently.
David Boon famously drank 52 beers on a flight to London ahead of the 1989 Ashes series
The cricket cult hero now regrets scoring what's probably his most famous half-century
'You have fun, you do something and then you think s**t what about the ramifications to everything else - to your family, to your children.
'It caused some crap over the years and it's something that I regret a lot.
'And I was stupid given I was in the public eye.'
Teammates such as Geoff Lawson and the late Dean Jones were adamant Boon had a drink for the ages.
Jones even claimed he was woken up to thunderous applause and an announcement from the plane's captain saying Boon had reached 52 not out as the plane prepared to touch down on the tarmac in England.
The 62-yar-old was the face of Victoria Bitter for their summer advertising campaigns from 2005-2007 in a promotion dubbed 'Boonanza'
'I know there are plenty of stories flying around about me that have been greatly embellished over the years,' Boon said in 2006.
'But that's how it is ... we played our cricket in an era where blokes learned never to let the truth get in the way of a good story.'
Born in Tasmania, Boon made his Test debut in 1984 against the West Indies and was also a talented batsman at ODI level, winning a World Cup in 1987.
He played his final Test in 1996 before becoming a national selector.
