The number of cans of beer drank by Australian cricketer David Boon on a flight to England before the 1989 Ashes series was 52. How did they know? Who counted them? Did they collect the dregs to make sure that only full cans were counted? Did he slip his buddies one or two?
David Boon scored 7,422 runs at 43.65 with 21 hundreds from 107 Tests. The world does not know these numbers by heart, and they can hardly be blamed for that. What they do know of, however, is that trademark moustache that makes him stand out in a hundred; and, of course, that 52-strong 1989 beer-fest on the Qantas flight to London.
The cans were not pint-sized. They measured a ‘tinny’ or a ‘stubby’, in other words, 375-ml cans. If we go by the 52-can count, that amounts to 19.5 litres of beer. That seems absurd even if we think water.
Additionally, if one goes by the 4.6% ABV, then Boon consumed 897 ml of pure, undiluted, unadulterated alcohol in the space of 24 hours. National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recommends about a third of that per week.
