Cricket legend Sir Ian Botham has revealed he was saved by his great mate Merv Hughes when he suffered a painful fall into crocodile-infested waters in Australia’s wild tropical north last week.
‘Beefy’ Botham, 68, was on a four-day fishing trip with his former Ashes opponent when disaster nearly struck when he tripped and fell which left him with severe bruising and put him at risk of being attacked by a crocodile saltwater. .
“In the end, Crocodile Beefy survived,” said the former all-rounder, mixing his nickname with a reference to the hit Australian film Crocodile Dundee.
“I got out of the water faster than I got in.
‘Quite a few (crocodile) eyes were looking at me. Luckily I didn’t have time to think about what was in the water.
The accident occurred while Botham and Hughes were fishing for barramundi in the Moyle River, about 200 kilometers south of Darwin.
Botham was moving from a smaller boat to a larger one when his footwear became caught in a rope and he crashed into the boat before falling headlong into the water.
There was also a family of bull sharks under the boat waiting for remains from the fishermen. news corporation reported.
Cricket icon Sir Ian Botham is pictured during the four-day fishing trip in Australia’s tropical north in which he escaped a horror fall into a river known for its large population of saltwater crocodiles and sharks bull.
‘Beefy’ was pulled from the water as ‘quite a few’ of the deadly reptiles looked on, and was later left with serious bruising (pictured)
Australian cricket great Merv Hughes (pictured) acted quickly to drag Botham back to the boat, which had also attracted some sharks looking for scraps.
“The lads were brilliant, it was just one of those accidents,” Botham said.
“Everything happened very quickly and now I’m fine.”
Hughes, 62, has made a career out of his love of fishing since ending his playing career in 1994.
He stars in the popular television show Merv Hughes Fishing, in which he travels to remote locations such as the area where he and Botham were casting their lines when disaster nearly struck.
Botham’s love of fishing took hold as a child and he once said, “More than shooting or playing golf, fishing is my greatest passion.”
“There’s something about rivers, the flow of water, watching the day go by… I’ve never found a stretch of river that hasn’t interested me in some way.”
Australia is home to around 200,000 saltwater crocodiles and they are common in some areas of the Northern Territory, such as the Moyle River, where there are approximately five reptiles per square kilometer.
Botham became one of the all-time cricketing greats as he scored 5,200 runs and took 383 wickets in a brilliant Test career.
Hughes became a cult hero before retiring from international cricket in 1994 and carving out a career in Australian television with his own fishing show.
Australia’s tropical north is home to thousands of saltwater crocodiles (pictured), which can grow up to six meters long and 1000kg.
Huge crocodiles are exceptionally dangerous, but in Australia there are only one or two fatal attacks on humans a year.
They have killed 30 Australians in the last 25 years, according to crocattack.org, which maintains a attacks database.
Saltwater crocodiles can live up to 70 years, grow up to 1,000 kg and six meters long.
Bull sharks are an aggressive species known for their ability to survive after swimming upstream from the ocean.
Last February, a bull shark was blamed for the fatal attack on a 16-year-old girl in Perth’s Swan River.
While Botham and Hughes are teammates, the Englishman still has a burning rivalry with another great player in Australian cricket, Ian Chappell.
Last year, the pair clashed again in the television sports documentary The Longest Feud.
Chappell has long maintained that Botham once threatened him with a glass of beer at Melbourne’s Hilton Hotel in 1977 after throwing it over a table, an accusation ‘Beefy’ says is ‘nonsense’.
When Chappell labeled Botham “a bully and a coward” on camera, the level of animosity went up a notch in the surprising exchange in which the former Australian Test captain branded his rival a “coward” before “ Beefy” will counterattack by calling him “sad and lonely.”