Legendary England cricketer, Sir Ian Botham recently shared an incredible story of how his one-time fierce rival-turned friend, Merv Hughes, a former Australia pacer, came to his rescue after a terrifying fall into crocodile and shark-infested waters in Australia’s tropical north region. The mishap took place on the Moyle River, located about 200 kilometers south of Darwin, where Botham and Hughes were fishing for barramundi.
Botham, now 68, was on a four-day fishing expedition with his former Ashes rival when things took a dangerous turn. While attempting to move between boats, his footwear snagged on a rope, causing him to tumble and land heavily, resulting in severe bruising and a close call with a saltwater crocodile.
Reflecting on the incident, Botham humorously noted, “At the end of the day, Crocodile Beefy survived,” cleverly referencing his nickname along with the popular Australian film, Crocodile Dundee.
“I was out of the water quicker than I went in. Quite a few sets of [crocodile] eyes were having a peep at me. Luckily I had no time to think about what was in the water,” Botham said.
‘The guys were brilliant, it was just one of those accidents,’ the former England captain who is regarded as one of the greatest all-rounders of the game, said. “It was all very quick and I’m OK now.”
With around 200,000 saltwater crocodiles residing in Australia, particularly in the Northern Territory, the Moyle River area is known to have roughly five crocodiles per square kilometre, making Botham’s fall even more harrowing.
Notably, since announcing his retirement in 1994, Botham has been involved in fishing professionally
Botham and Hughes rivalry
Botham and Hughes were involved in numerous on-field clashes during their playing days in the late 1970s and the 1980s.
“It got ugly when Botham made 22 runs from a single over, scoring 2, 2, 4, 6, 4 and 4 off me. I am embarrassed to say it was a record for the most runs off an over in an Ashes Test. I would check the record books, desperately hoping some poor soul had been worse, and while I found there was once 24 scored off an over, it was from an eight-ball over,” Hughes would later tell in the book ‘The Match of My Life: The Ashes’.
Hughes had a successful career with Australia, featuring in 53 Tests and taking 212 wickets. Despite a number of confrontations during their playing days, Botham and Hughes have remained friends since retiring.
