Sir Ian Botham RESCUE by Merv Hughes after falling into crocodile-infested water, English cricket legend suffers from bruises

In a very scary moment, England legend Ian Botham nearly fell into a crocodile-infested river before being pulled out by his former rival Merv Hughes.

The duo were fishing in Australia’s Northern Territory when Botham, 68, got his flip-flops caught on a rope and fell into the crocodile-infested River Moyle. Botham suffered a severe bruise on the side of his torso.

Botham was quoted by various media as saying: “At the end of the day, Beefy the Crocodile survived. I came out of the water faster than I entered it. Quite a few pairs of eyes were looking at me. it’s time to think about what was in the water. The guys were great. It was just one of those accidents. It all happened very quickly and I’m fine now.”

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How did the Hughes-Botham rivalry come about?

Apart from being friends off the field, both the cricketers also shared a bitter rivalry on the field. The rivalry was quite intense in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Hughes, in Match of My Life: The Ashes, reveals the moment when the rivalry turned ugly. He said: “It got ugly when Botham scored 22 runs in one over, scoring 2, 2, 4, 6, 4 and 4 from me. I’m ashamed to say it was a record for the most runs in an Ashes Test. I checked the record books, desperately hoping that one of the poor souls had it worse, and although I found that 24 were scored in an over once, it was from an eight-ball over.”

What’s next for Merv Hughes and Ian Botham?

Botham has been busy in Australia at business and charity events and recently joined Hughes for a chamber of commerce appearance. They will be commentating together for the upcoming summer of cricket in Australia, starting with the first Test against India.