England cricket duo talk man down from Sydney Bridge

England cricketers Matt Prior and Stuart Broad were involved in a dramatic late night rescue of a man preparing to jump off a bridge near the team hotel in Sydney yesterday. Photo / Getty Images.

England cricketers Matt Prior and Stuart Broad were involved in a dramatic late night rescue of a man preparing to jump off a bridge near the team hotel in Sydney yesterday.

Wicketkeeper Prior helped to pull the man off the railing of the 19-metre Pyrmont Bridge in Darling Harbour after chatting to him, along with Broad, for more than an hour London's Daily Telegraph reported.

"We just did what anybody would do in that situation," said Prior. "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.

The players believe the man was from Britain. He had thrown his telephone, passport and wallet in the water and had taken off his shoes before climbing onto the bridge's railing.

Initially the players thought he was standing on the railing for a dare before realising the seriousness of the situation. The man did not appear to recognise the cricketers.

Broad later tweeted that he was proud of Prior's actions.

My latest retweet, @MattPrior13 is a best friend of mine and I'm very proud of him. It was a tough situation but so glad he was there

Terry Minish, the team's security officer, was with the England pair and claimed the man - who said he was from Cheltenham, south-west England - had indicated he wanted to drown.

"Walking back to the hotel we spotted a young man on the edge of the bridge about to jump," Minish said.

"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."