Former Zimbabwe cricketer Guy Whittall has undergone emergency surgery after he was mauled by a wounded leopard while on a hunting expedition earlier this week.

The 51-year-old, who represented Zimbabwe in 46 Tests and 147 ODIs between 1993 and 2003, sustained cuts to his arms and a gash to his head during the bloody attack near Buffalo Range.

Whittall, who “lost a lot of blood” during the incident, was flown to Harare and transferred to Milton Park Hospital for treatment, with his wife Hannah Stooks Whittall providing an update on Facebook.

“Guy and I are overwhelmed by the hundreds of messages of well wishers after Guy’s run in with a wounded leopard earlier today,” she wrote.

“He is currently awaiting surgery tomorrow morning as he lost a lot of blood today. We will know more tomorrow when they remove bandages.”

Whittall’s dog Chikara, who helped wrestle off the leopard, was also taken to a vet following the ordeal.

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Back in 2013, Whittall made headlines after discovering an 165kg crocodile under his bed, which crawled into his lodge and spent the night while he slept.

“The really disconcerting thing about the whole episode is the fact that I was sitting on the edge of the bed that morning, bare foot and just centimetres away from the croc,” Whittall said at the time.

“It came from the Turgwe River, which is a couple of kilometres from the house. They often wander about the bush, especially when it’s cold and raining. I think he liked it under the bed because it was warm.”

Whittall, who runs a safari business with his family in Humani, represented Zimbabwe at three World Cups, in 1996, 1999 and 2003. He scored 4912 runs and claimed 139 wickets for his country.

“He really is one lucky man, first he had the crocodile and now the leopard, he really is the cat with nine lives,” his wife told the Daily Mail.

“He was so fortunate that Chikara was there to help him and get the leopard off him otherwise who knows how it might have ended.

“We are so grateful to him, and Chikara going to get some extra chicken as a treat. He’s got to see the vet as he has a few scratches and but he should be ok, he’s in better shape than Guy.

“Fortunately, Guy is up in bed and talking, he’s telling anyone who will listen how he wrestled with a leopard but we all know it was down to Chikara.”

Former Zimbabwe cricketer Guy Whittall survived a leopard attack eleven years after spending a night above an eight-foot crocodile.

One morning in September 2013, at the Humani Ranch, the Whittall’s game reserve in Zimbabwe, Guy Whittall woke up and sat barefoot on the edge of the bed for a while before making his way to the kitchen.

Most human beings do not live to tell a comparable tale, but Whittall now has two. On April 23, he was attacked by a wounded leopard, and things might have taken a turn for far worse had his dog Chikara not intervened.

“He was stabilised at Hippo Clinic by wonderful staff,” wrote his wife Hannah Stooks Whittall on Facebook. “He was then airlifted from Buffalo Range by Ace Ambulance to Harare, then transferred to Milton Park Hospital for treatment.”

Having lost a lot of blood, Whittall will undergo surgery today (April 25). Chikara, too, will be taken to the veterinary staff after being “mauled by the leopard”.

Whittall played 46 Tests for Zimbabwe between 1993/94 and 2002/03, and had 2,207 runs at 29.42 and 51 wickets at 40.94. He is best remembered for a “century average” (batting average in innings where he made a hundred) of 623, the highest in the history of Test cricket. Whittall’s four Test hundreds were 113*, 203*, 188*, and 119.

Whittall also had 2,705 runs at 22.54 and 88 wickets at 39.55 from 147 ODIs, and was part of three World Cup squads, in 1996, 1999, and 2003. Zimbabwe made it to the Super Six on each of the last two occasions.

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