Botham at Headingley 1981: The most memorable moment of all Photo © John Dawson

Ex-England Captain Ian Botham's legendary performance in the 1981 Ashes Against Australia, where he turned humiliation into triumph, has been voted by Observer Sport Monthly (OSM) readers as the Most Memorable Sporting Moment of all time.

Writing about his innings in OSM, Botham explains: "It was one of those crazy, glorious, one-off flukes. When I left home on the Sunday evening after the rest day I told Kath I would be checking out of our Leeds hotel in the morning, that I would be back home on the Monday afternoon, early evening at the latest."

Botham's heroics account for the only mention of cricket in the top 20 of the list, with football featuring prominently. Manchester United's injury time comeback in the closing minutes of the 1999 European Cup final against Bayern Munich comes second in the list, with Geoff Hurst's World Cup Final hat-trick goal in fourth spot. Sporting favourites as diverse as Red Rum and Torvill and Dean win a mention alongside events such as Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile barrier, and Steve Redgrave's fifth Olympic gold medal winning performance, in the list.

'Beefy's' legendary innings and the other most memorable sporting moments will be published in a special OSM feature with the Observer on Sunday 4 February 2001.

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