Sir Ian Botham’s golfing mishaps leave him injured
Former England cricketer and commentator David “Bumble” Lloyd has shared a remarkable tale from a recent golfing getaway with close friend Sir Ian Botham — a trip that ended with the cricket great suffering broken ribs, a cut arm, and a bruised nose after a string of mishaps, reports BritPanorama.
Lloyd, 78, recounted the story during a lively appearance on Stick to Cricket, a podcast featuring former England stars Phil Tufnell, Michael Vaughan, and Sir Alastair Cook. The discussion began nostalgically, referencing the infamous pig marked “Botham” and “Eddie” released by fans during the 1986-87 Ashes series in Brisbane. From there, the conversation shifted to Botham’s more recent exploits, where Lloyd revealed a fresh chapter in his friend’s storied history of escapades.
“Talking about Beefy, I’ve just been to Valderrama with him and Andy Lloyd, Billy Foster the caddie, and Paul Allott. Three days,” Lloyd said, detailing the incident where Botham overturned a golf buggy while seated. “On day one, Beefy turns his buggy over while he’s in it. He rolls the buggy on a hill with Tim Bostock, the chief executive up at Durham, sitting beside him.” They managed to lift the buggy back up, but not before Botham sustained two broken ribs, a lacerated arm, and considerable bleeding from his hand.
If that was not enough drama for one trip, Lloyd described an even more chaotic evening the following night. “We go to this classy restaurant and he gets on the wine. He stood up and promptly fell straight onto his nose. He’s busted his nose, blood everywhere in this restaurant,” Lloyd recalled, continuing that after being helped back up, Botham slipped on the blood and fell again. “They got him in the car and got him to bed, and his last words before he went to sleep were, ‘Don’t tell Kath!’ He was absolutely black and blue.”
During the podcast, Vaughan reminded listeners that “Don’t Tell Kath” was fittingly the title of Botham’s 2000 autobiography, a nod to the cricketer’s long history of misadventures both on and off the field. Botham, now 69, has a well-documented penchant for adventure.
This incident is yet another addition to Botham’s history of brushes with danger. Last year, while on a fishing trip in northern Australia with former Ashes rival Merv Hughes, he fell into crocodile-infested waters but escaped with severe bruising thanks to Hughes’s quick reaction.
His career has been marked by various injuries and resilience; from breaking a toe at Headingley in 1977 to undergoing spinal surgery decades later, Botham’s tenacity has cemented his legacy as one of England’s most celebrated all-rounders.
The stories of Botham’s escapades serve as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of life beyond the pitch, illustrating how even legends are not immune to the whims of fate.
