Botham hits back at Imran's 'arrogance'

Ian Botham yesterday defended himself again persistent accusations of lying from George Carman QC during the second day of his libel action at the High Court against fellow cricketer Imran Khan.

Asked whether he was always truthful, Botham replied: "As often as you can be. We're not all saints." Mr Carman proceeded to remind the former England captain that he had lied in the past when he told a group of journalists that he had never taken marijuana or cocaine. Botham replied: "What happens when you're confronted by a pack of journalists is that you go on the defensive. . . you tend to freeze. It's a natural reaction." Mr Carman asked Botham why he had issued writs on both the Mail on Sunday and the News of the World over "very grave allegations", but subsequently withdrawn them.

Botham replied that the Mail on Sunday had been keen to settle and that the News of the World was " at the end of the day ... only the News of the World." Mr Carman told Botham that the reason he had dropped the charges was that he "knew the substance of what they [the papers] were saying was true", and that "it would be proved in court" against him.

The articles referred to Botham taking drugs, and to his having sex while on tour in New Zealand, and with Miss Barbados in the West Indies.

Charles Gray QC, counsel for Botham, interrupted Mr Carman, whom he had already accused of indulging in "an exercise in muck-raking". He asked: "May I inquire if my learned friend is leaving Miss Barbados?" Mr Carman replied: "Am I leaving Miss Barbados?" There were roars of laughter from the public gallery.

Mr Carman also reminded Botham of what he described as a "disgracefully offensive observation to the people and cricketers of Pakistan".

He continued: "What you said was that Pakistan was the kind of place where you would like to send your mother-in-law for a month, all expenses paid." But Botham corrected him. "I'd like to send my mother-in-law for two weeks, all expenses paid," he remarked.

The libel case concerns two articles published in 1994, one in the Asian magazine India Today and the other in the Sun newspaper. Botham and his former England colleague, Allan Lamb, 42, claim that Khan, the former Pakistan captain, called them racist and said that they were uneducated and lacked class or upbringing. Botham, 40, is also suing over an article in which he claims Khan accused him of "ball-tampering" - illegally doctoring a cricket ball to increase the chances of spinning it in the field - when he was bowling in a Test match.

Botham, who has totted up a total 5,200 runs and 383 wickets in Test matches, denies he has ever tampered with the ball.

Earlier, the court heard that Khan had written a savage review of Botham's biography in the Sunday Times in which he referred to England's greatest player as a bitter man who had "lost in life".

Khan wrote that Botham had twice - in 1981 and 1989 - turned down trips to South Africa because of "cold financial calculations" rather than the country's racist policies.

Botham said this was "totally untrue" and that he cancelled the visit after being told that former West Indian captain Viv Richards could be made an "honorary white" were the pair to dine in the same restaurant in South Africa.

Khan said in the review that he was in "no doubt" about who was the "real hero of the book". He said this was "Botham's wife Kathy", and that he wished her "all the luck for the remainder of her marriage".

Fixing Khan and his five-months pregnant wife Jemima, the daughter of Sir James Goldsmith, with an indignant look, Botham hit back: "I thought it was an extremely arrogant remark and I'd like to inform Imran Khan that my wife and I have a very successful marriage, thank you."