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 great Australian cricketer – 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 among sports fans.

Now 62, Boon has explained why he regrets the half-century off the field that is at least as famous as anything he did on it.

“I have 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 recently returned online.

The cricket cult hero now regrets scoring what is probably his most famous half-century

'You're having fun, you're doing something and then you think: what about the consequences for everything else – for your family, for your children.

'It has caused some mess over the years and I deeply regret that.

“And I was stupid, since I was in the public eye.”

Teammates such as Geoff Lawson and the late Dean Jones were convinced Boon had a drink for the ages.

Jones even claimed that he was woken by thunderous applause and an announcement from the plane's captain that Boon had not reached 52 as the plane prepared to land on the tarmac in England.

The 62-year-old was the face of Victoria Bitter for their 2005-2007 summer advertising campaigns in a promotion called '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 the way it is… we played cricket in an era when boys learned that the truth should never 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 last Test in 1996 before becoming a national selector.