LONDON (AP) — England cricket great Ian Botham was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II yesterday.

The 51-year-old former allrounder, who can now be referred to as Sir Ian, was honoured for his services to sport and his charity work for leukaemia research.

"I've had some great moments in sport and other walks of life but nothing matches this," Botham said. "It was mind blowing, magnificent."

Botham, whose nickname is "Beefy", finished his career as England's leading Test wicket-taker with 383 wickets and 5,200 Test runs. He played from 1974 until 1993 and said his greatest sporting achievements were Ashes wins against Australia — 1981 and 1985 in England, and 1987 in Australia.

"The highlight has to be any time we beat Australia, particularly when we beat them in Australia," Botham said, "but today puts that all into insignificance when you get an achievement like this."

Since he retired, Botham has worked as a cricket commentator and raised millions of pounds for the Leukaemia Research charity through a series of long-distance charity walks, which he began while still playing.