Sir Ian Botham 'thanks' hacker after graphic photo posted on his Twitter page

Former England cricket captain Sir Ian Botham has 'thanked' a Twitter hacker after a photo of someone's manhood was posted on his online account.

The graphic image, which was accompanied by the message, "what are you thinking...xx", shocked the ex-sportsman's Twitter followers, with one user writing: "Wow, I think @BeefyBotham has been hacked. That or he's feeling particularly amorous after Englands win. Or he thought twitter was whatsapp."

Botham later deleted the post and thanked the hacker for improving the amount of hits on his social networking page.

I would like to thank the hacker....I've just got 500 hits in 20mins !!

— Ian Botham (@BeefyBotham) August 18, 2014

Make that 700 in 25 mins !!!

— Ian Botham (@BeefyBotham) August 18, 2014