Fred Titmus Loses Four Toes in a Motorboat — Barbados, January 1968

Titmus had been one of England's key bowlers since the mid-1950s, taking 153 Test wickets in 53 matches. His career at thirty-five appeared to be winding down naturally; the Barbados accident seemed to end it suddenly. His return proved both assumptions wrong.

The England party on the 1967-68 West Indies tour were resting in Barbados between Tests when several players and support staff went out on a motorboat trip. Titmus, thirty-five at the time and one of England's leading off-spinners, somehow had his foot drawn into the boat's propeller in shallow water and suffered the amputation of four toes on his left foot. The incident was immediately reported to MCC in London and a replacement player (Pat Pocock) was flown out. Titmus was operated on in Barbados and later transferred to a London hospital. The cricketing world assumed his career was over. It was not: Titmus returned to first-class cricket in 1968, bowling his characteristic off-spin with no discernible loss of control or effectiveness. He played his last Test match in 1975, at forty-two. The Barbados accident has become one of cricket's most retold anecdotes — partly for its grimness, partly for Titmus's extraordinary recovery, and partly because Titmus himself told the story with self-deprecating good humour for the rest of his long life.

“They thought I was finished. I wasn't finished. I still had eight toes.”