David Boon's Legendary 52-Beer Flight to England

“"What I won’t deny is that we had a beer. But to be perfectly honest if it was that many… how the hell would I know?"”

“"Oh, yeah. We had partners throughout."”

“"My father said to me before the 1989 tour, ‘Son, is there anyone you can sit next to on the plane that can tell you all about the final one percent of how to play in England? How do you play at Lord’s with the slope? Why does the ball swing around so much in overcast conditions? How do you play the county matches?’ I said, ‘Dad, the best guy is Boony (David Boon).’ He said, ‘Well, sit next to him, have a beer, and drain him for every bit of knowledge you can.’ So I did. And two hours outside of Singapore, I found myself finishing my 25th can. I’m as full as a fat lady’s sock. I’m absolutely pissed."”

“"Everything was going swimmingly and, of course, 30 minutes outside of landing we hear the captain of the flight announcing: ‘we’re about to land at Heathrow.’ The flight service director then ran upstairs into the cockpit—you could do that back in 1989—and she said, ‘You can’t do it!’ The captain asked, ‘Why is that?’ She said, ‘Boon’s on his 49th can; he’s got no chance of beating the record!’ Two minutes later, the captain got back on the air and said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve just got some advice from Heathrow. We’ve got some traffic problems, so we’re just going to have to do a few loops before we land.’ And of course, when we finally landed, this wealth of applause came up from downstairs: ‘Oh, Boony, you’re the king! Well done, Boony!’ It was like he’d just done something heroic. And Bob Simpson said, ‘Listen to the camaraderie of the boys! Boon’s won a game of cards, he’s going to have a fantastic tour because this is a fantastic omen for Boony.’ And right after he says that the captain announces, ‘gentlemen, welcome to Heathrow, it’s six degrees outside and I want to wish the Australian cricket team all the best. I know they’ll do very well because David Boon’s just broken the record with 52 cans from Sydney to London.’"”

“"It was a whole lot of different drinks – lots of beer, a few spirits, but I recorded every drink’s alcohol content. I was writing it [Boon’s beverage tally] on the back of a sick bag: the brand, the alcohol content and the volume. One of my biggest regrets of my career is that I’ve written this all down on the back of a white sick bag, but I left it on the plane. It would have been one of the greatest pieces of memorabilia in Australian sporting history."”