Ian Botham's ODI career coincided with England's finest hour in the World Cup. In the first five editions of the World Cup, England never failed to make the semi-final. Since then they have not gotten there even once.
Botham featured in three World Cups and England finished Runners-up twice (1979 and 1992) and made the semi-final in the other (1983), where they lost to eventual winners, India.
Even if he wasn't as prolific as a few other bowlers of his era at the biggest stage, he seldom failed to make an impact. That he went wicket-less just thrice in his World Cup career after his debut highlights that he always contributed.
30 wickets in 22 matches at an average of 25.4 and economy rate of 3.4 are a testament to just that.
His finest spell came against Australia at Sydney in the 1992 World Cup. While the fact that it came against his favourite opponents isn't surprising, that it came when he was on his last legs and pushes the defending champions to the brink of elimination made it even better.
After being soundly beaten by New Zealand and South Africa and just scraping past India, the hosts knew that nothing less than a win against England would do if they were to make it past the group stage.
Unfortunately for them, standing in their way was a familiar foe, who despite his portly frame, put in an all-round effort that all but eliminated them.
At 145/4 with Steve Waugh and Allan Border at the crease, Australia looked set for a decent total but once Border was bowled through the gate by Botham, the collapse began.
Australia lost their last six wickets for just 26 runs as Botham cleaned up the tail and finished with his career-best ODI figures of 4/31. He then proceeded to put on 107 for the opening wicket with Graham Gooch and scored his final international fifty to seal the game for England.
His 30 wickets remain the most by an Englishman in the World Cup and 30 days to go before World Cup 2019, England will be looking to reach heights they haven't since Beefy called it a day.