NEW DELHI: England great Ian Botham has revealed that his Ashes opponent Merv Hughes recently saved him after he took a painful fall into crocodile-infested waters.
Sir Botham was on four-day fishing trip last week for barramundi on the Moyle River, about 200 kilometers south of Darwin when he took a tumble into the waters, leaving him with severe bruising to the side of his torso.
As the fall put him in risk of attack from saltwater crocodile, Hughes was quick to react as he took Botham out of the waters.
“At the end of the day, Crocodile Beefy survived,” the former all-rounder said.
“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 added.
The accident took place when Botham was moving from a smaller boat to another and his footwear got caught in a rope resulting in the 68-year-old’s fall into the water.
“The guys were brilliant, it was just one of those accidents,” Botham said.
“It was all very quick and I’m OK now,” he added.
Botham and Hughes shared historic Ashes rivalry in the 1980s.
