the dailymash

In a 20 minute audiotape, Ayman al-Zawahiri threatened to retaliate against Britain for honouring the former England cricket captain.

Zawahiri said: "I say to Blair's successor that by honouring this man you repeat the insults of Colin Cowdrey and Vivian Richards."

The Al-Qaeda mastermind claimed that Botham's pair of centuries against Pakistan in the 1978 test series was an 'affront to Islam'.

Zawahiri added: "First, he defiled our brave Islamic warriors at Edgbaston and then two weeks later he brought shame on his family with a series of depraved boundary strokes at Lords." 

He also condemned Botham's charity exploits, claiming that walking from one end of a country to the other was 'un-Islamic'.
 
The government dismissed Zawahiri's comments and stressed that Botham's honour was in recognition of his services to Shredded Wheat and Bite-Size Shredded Wheat.