Cricket sightings in the work of Francis Bacon

Ducking Beamers recently noted a mention of cricket in Virginia Woolf's _To the Lighthouse_ (ostensibly in response to my reporting a cricket sighting in the works of Gabriel Orozco). In that spirit, I'd like to note another cricket sighting. A few days ago, while reading John Richardson's review of the Francis Bacon retrospectives mounted last year, I noticed the following line:

Paintings inspired by Edwards as well as a Formula 1 driver and a famous cricketer the artist fancied (fetishism survives in the batting pads) reveal that in old age Bacon managed to banish his demons and move on to beefcake.

This prompted the obvious question: which cricketer served as fantasy material for Bacon?

Off to Google I went. I googled a few different terms and finally hit the jackpot in a Times review of the Tate retrospective,

..his superficial interest in cricket resulted in a long and flippant finale devoted to images of Ian Botham in action.

The cricket works don't seem to have captured any critic's fancy: the Times' critic notes,

How astute, for instance, to include only one of the cricket pictures

Then, a conversation with the critic Edward Lucie Smith features the following comment,

It is true that I don't like a good deal of the very late work, particularly the series showing dwarfish figures dressed for the game of cricket. It was only after FB's death that I learned that these were supposedly inspired by Francis's fascination with the swaggering, ultimately butch cricket hero of that period, Ian Botham. Well I suppose I can't blame him for lusting after Botham, who when young was testosterone on two legs, and very much aware of the fact.

And lastly, the Guardian's Adrian Searle expresses relief at their omission,

The cast of sexy low-life gangster boyfriends, louche dissolutes, Colony Room renegades and hard-drinking, hard-smoking Soho gorgons who people Bacon's art also keep the paintings alive and vivid for us. These feature animals, captains of industry, dead politicians, Renaissance popes, Mick Jagger and Ian Botham, though the last two have wisely been left out of Tate Britain's retrospective.

OK, so I know that art critics think these works are crap. The problem is, I can't find any of the paintings. Google Images is of no help. Can anyone help?

Always thought they were idiots

The Aussie Fanatics were responsible for the fire alarm prank at the English team's hotel. Not quite sure what the appropriate punishment would be. A long road-trip with Ian Botham?

Really, Beefy?

So, today, while watching the third day's play of the England-West Indies test at the ARG, I thought that Ian Botham's unwavering insistence that England enforce the follow-on in case the West Indies couldn't avoid it was, quite frankly, one of the silliest things I've heard a supposedly expert commentator say. For the record, it had been a hot day, Harmison was decidedly crook, Flintoff was clearly injured, England's lead was likely to be around 250 or so, the pitch was not getting easier to bat on, and an offspinner was taking wickets. Under that set of circumstances, why someone wouldn't want to bat again and rack up another 170-200 runs before creating a fourth innings pressure cooker was beyond me. Sir Beefy kept insisting that England "go for the jugular" but I'm not sure what he thought they were going to use as a weapon. And when reminded of the injuries his response was, "Well, are they going to get better in a day?". Well, perhaps not, but the two bowlers in question would have had some rest. Sometimes Botham is so caught up in his hard man act, its hard to tell whether one should take him seriously (OK, I know the answer to that one, but it was still a bit strange to watch). Talking to him was Nasser, who is a hard man in his own right, and his expression was giving the game away. He clearly wanted to be on his hands and knees, looking for that lost set of marbles.