England cricketers Matt Prior and Stuart Broad were lauded as heroes on Wednesday after they intervened at a Darling Harbour bridge late on Tuesday night, and prevented a man from jumping into the water below.
The players were walking back to their hotel after a Broad Appeal charity event when they saw the man, reported to be English, standing on the edge of the bridge. He had already thrown his wallet and passport into the water.
Prior and England security officer Terry Minish pulled the man away from the edge, and the players then sat and spoke to him for an hour until the New South Wales police arrived.
Prior said when asked about the incident: “We just did what anybody would do in that situation. We were trying to help a bloke who was struggling and in a bad way. I look back and I’m just glad we left the bar when we did and we were there for him.”
Minish also described the events, saying: “Walking back to the hotel we spotted a young man on the edge of the bridge about to jump. He was saying he just wanted to drown.
“Matt helped to pull him down off the edge of the bridge and sat with him until the police arrived. It all happened very quickly and we acted on impulse. It is what you do in these situations.”
Prior has since returned to the UK as he is not involved in the ODI series, while Broad is still in Australia for those matches.