News

Cricket legend Sir Ian Botham has revealed he was saved by his fellow great Merv Hughes when he took a painful fall into crocodile-infested waters in Australia’s wild tropical north last week.

Cricket legend Sir Ian Botham has revealed he was saved by his fellow great Merv Hughes when he took 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 almost struck as he tripped and took a tumble that left him with severe bruising – and put him at risk of an attack by a saltwater croc.

‘At the end of the day, Crocodile Beefy survived,’ the former all-rounder said, mixing his nickname with a reference to the hit 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.’

The accident occurred as Botham and Hughes fished for barramundi on the Moyle River, about 200km south of Darwin.

Botham was moving from a smaller boat to another, larger vessel when his footwear got caught in a rope and he smashed into the boat before falling headfirst into the water.

There was also a family of bull sharks underneath the boat hoping for scraps from the fishermen, News Corp reported.

‘The guys were brilliant, it was just one of those accidents,’ Botham said.

‘It was all very quick and I’m OK now.’

Hughes, 62, has made a career out of his love of fishing since his playing career ended in 1994.

He stars in the popular TV show Merv Hughes Fishing, which sees him journey to far-flung locations like the area where he and Botham were casting their lines when disaster almost struck.

Botham’s love of fishing took hold when he was a child and he once said, ‘More than shooting or golf, fishing is my biggest passion.

‘There is something about rivers, the flow of water, watching on as the day goes by … I’ve never found a stretch of river that hasn’t somehow interested me.’

Australia is home to around 200,000 saltwater crocodiles and they are common in some areas of the Northern Territory, like the Moyle River, where there are approximately five of the reptiles per square kilometre.

The huge crocodilians are exceptionally dangerous but there are only one to two fatal attacks on humans per year in Australia.

They have killed 30 Australians in the last 25 years, according to crocattack.org, which keeps a database of attacks.

Saltwater crocs can live up to 70 years, growing up to 1000kg and six metres long.

Bull sharks are an aggressive species known for their ability to survive after swimming upriver from the ocean.

Last February a bull shark was blamed for a fatal attack on a 16-year-old girl in Perth’s Swan River.

While Botham and Hughes are mates, the Englishman still has a burning rivalry with another Aussie cricket great, Ian Chappell.

Last year the pair clashed once again in the TV sporting documentary The Longest Feud.

Chappell has long maintained Botham once threatened him with a beer glass at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne back in 1977 after throwing him across a table – an accusation ‘Beefy’ says is ‘bulls***.’

When Chappell labelled Botham ‘a bully and a coward’ on camera, the level of animosity went up a notch in the astonishing exchange in which the former Aussie Test skipper branded his rival a ‘coward’ before ‘Beefy’ struck back by calling him ‘sad and lonely’.

Related Posts

Conor McGregor vows ‘big actions are coming’ and says he is ‘soon to be vindicated’ as he launches furious tirade against his rape accuser Nikita Hand after she won €250,000 from him in court

Conor McGregor has warned ‘big actions are coming’ and he is ‘soon to be vindicated’ during a series of social media tirades against a decision to award his rape accuser nearly €250,000. McGregor, 36, was found by a jury in a civil court to have 𝑠e𝑥ually assaulted Nikita Hand, 35, at a hotel in south Dublin in December 2018. After deliberating for six hours and 10 minutes, a jury of eight women and four men returned their verdict on Friday afternoon, awarding Ms Hand the substantial damages for her claim.

Bombshell new clue may finally crack DB Cooper case 53 years after hijacker escaped out of plane with $200k

The parachute that the infamous hijacker DB Cooper used to make his getaway out of a plane with $200,000 may have finally been found. The enigma behind DB Cooper, the man who jumped out of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 with thousands in cash after handing a stewardess a note demanding the ransom, has long stumped the FBI. Nearly a decade later, the FBI has begun unofficially looking back into the case after the children of Richard Floyd McCoy II contacted YouTuber Dan Gryder in 2020 with possible evidence.

‘Never-Trump’ columnist ridiculed for calling Trump’s Cabinet ‘1,000 shades of white’

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin is being ridiculed for calling Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations ‘1,000 shades of white’. Rubin, 62, a former conservative commentator at the Jeff Bezos-owned paper, now largely advocates for Democrats and on her podcast, ‘Jen Rubin’s Green Room.’ Speaking on MSNBC Rubin did not hold back as she ripped Trump’s nominations over the color of their skin.

Matt Gaetz is mercilessly mocked over surprising new career move: ‘Not on my bingo card’

Former Attorney General pick Matt Gaetz has turned his eyes towards a new career after claiming he was forced to exit Congress due to a 𝑠e𝑥 ‘smear’ campaign. Gaetz, sensationally dropped out of contention two days ago amid a sleuth of allegations including having 𝑠e𝑥 with a minor girl and and illicit drug use – which he has always denied. He also withdrew himself from Congress for next year despite having been re-elected to the seat he vacated.

Mass job losses as major factory owner moves business overseas

A major New York tire factory that has operated for over a century is set to close after its executives moved its manufacturing overseas. Sumitomo Rubber USA, which owns tire maker Dunlop, fired 1,550 people this week as the Japanese company plans to close its Buffalo factory. The company did not announce plans at the same time to open a new factory, but said it made the ‘difficult decision’ because the New York manufacturer couldn’t keep up with overseas prices.

Crushing blow for Anthony Albanese as hugely controversial misinformation bill is SCRAPPED

Communications minister Michelle Rowland has announced Labor will abandon its push to introduce a misinformation Bill. Ms Rowland made the announcement on Sunday following revelations the Greens, Coalition and several crossbenchers would not support the legislation. ‘Based on public statements and engagements with senators, it is clear that there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate,’ she said in a statement.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *