England cricket star Sir Ian Botham narrowly escaped disaster after plunging into shark and crocodile-infested waters during an Australian fishing trip.

The sporting legend was dramatically hauled to safety by former Aussie rival Merv Hughes after tumbling head-first into a Northern Territory river when his flip-flops became tangled in rope.

Sir Ian, 68, nicknamed “Beefy”, suffered bruising after striking the boat during his fall before quick-thinking fellow fishermen pulled him from the dangerous waters.

On Friday, he wrote on Instagram: “My catch of the day was the barra [fish] while I was nearly catch of the day for all the crocs and bull sharks…

“Thanks boys for getting me out.”

He told Australia’s Herald Sun Newspaper: “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 cricket commentator added.

Sir Ian was reportedly fishing for barramundi when he fell into the treacherous waters, where bull sharks had been spotted circling near the boat moments earlier.

“The guys were brilliant, it was just one of those accidents,” Botham said.

“It was all very quick and I’m okay now.”

Their fierce Ashes rivalry in the 1980s saw Botham famously smash Hughes for 22 runs in a single over – a record at the time – but the pair have remained close friends since hanging up their cricket whites, bonding over their shared passion for fishing.

The drama unfolded in one of Australia’s most dangerous waters, with the Northern Territory home to many of the country’s estimated 200,000 saltwater crocodiles, particularly in the Darwin region where the incident occurred.