Sir Ian Botham survived a fall into crocodile and shark-infested waters having been saved by former rival Merv Hughes.
The England cricket legend suffered severe bruising to his torso after tumbling into the Moyle River in Australia’s Northern Territory.
According to The Sun, the 68-year-old got his flip-flops caught in a rope and tripped overboard during a four-day fishing trip.
He had been attempting to leave the vessel he was on to join the expeditions’s mothership.
And had it not been for the quick-thinking of former fast bowler Hughes, who was Botham’s nemesis during numerous Ashes encounters throughout the 1980s, the ex-Scunthorpe centre-back could have ended up as a snack.
But before any crocs or bull sharks that inhabit the stretch of water could pounce, Hughes managed to drag him out of the water.
Despite the scary ordeal, Botham was able to see the funny side, as he quipped he was the British version of the Crocodile Dundee.
He said: “At the end of the day Crocodile Beefy survived.
“I was out of the water quicker than I went in it.
“Quite a few sets of eyes were having a peep at me.
“Luckily I had no time to think about what was in the water.”
The Somerset icon then praised the heroics efforts of Hughes and those that helped rescue him.
Botham stated: “The guys were brilliant. It was just one of those accidents.
“It was all very quick and I’m okay now.”
Thankfully for Botham, despite being left bruised over the incident, he is expected to make a full recovery and has shown no lasting effects.
Though Botham is unlikely to be put off from fishing in dangerous waters in the future judging by an interview he had with The Guardian in 2008.
He remarked: “More than shooting or golf, fishing is my biggest passion. I need solitude, and fly-fishing, which fascinates me, offers that.
“There is definitely 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.
“There certainly isn’t much salmon fishing down in London. Look, I’m a country boy, cities are fine for a good dinner, but I can’t wait to get away from them.”
