'Master of charity walk' Botham ready for 160 km challenge in Sri Lanka

Former England great Ian Botham has started a 160 km charity walk in Sri Lanka and Allan Border, Steve Waugh, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Muttiah Muralitharan are among cricketers who will accompany him at various points of the walk.

According to The Daily Times, Botham revealed that beating the oppressive heat and humidity would be testing but he was looking forward to the challenge.

'Beefy's Big Sri Lanka Walk 2013' will raise funds for those affected by the 30-year war in the country and for projects supported by the Laureus Sports Foundation for Goodness, the report said.

Botham has been walking for charity since 1985 when he first pledged to raise millions of pounds to help people suffering from blood cancers, the report added.

He visited Sri Lanka in 2005 soon after the Asian tsunami and played a key role in the establishment of the Foundation for Goodness project, the report further said.

Botham was back in the country in 2009 to oversee the launch of a sports centre in Seenigama that was hit by the Tsunami, according to the report.

In 2011 he made another visit for the opening of a similar sports complex in the north of Sri Lanka, the report mentioned.