Luke Fletcher suffers head injury in T20 Blast game – Cricbuzz

NATWEST T20 BLAST, 2017

Cricbuzz StaffLast updated on Sun, 09 Jul, 2017, 07:24 AM

Luke Fletcher was hit by the ball on his follow through Getty

Nottinghamshire pacer Luke Fletcher suffered a head injury during the NatWest T20 Blast match against Warwickshire and was taken to a hospital for medical attention.

According to initial reports, it emerged that the injury was of a serious nature and play was suspended for more than 30 minutes before it resumed.

The incident took place in the fourth over during Warwickshire's chase. Fletcher, who was bowling the over, had no time to react to a powerful straight drive from Sam Hain and was struck on his head. Immediately after the blow, Fletcher was seen wrapping up his head in a towel while walking off the field. As the umpires immediately called for medical assistance, the pacer appeared conscious while being assisted off the field by the physio and was later taken to a hospital.

Soon after, Notts released a statement which read: Luke Fletcher has been taken to hospital to assess the extent of the head injury. He was able to walk off the field of play and, after receiving treatment from the medical staff, it was recommended he goes to hospital for a thorough check-up.

While a lot of cricket fans sat up in anxiety to know the status of the popular paceman, Fletcher's team-mate Jake Ball tweeted a picture of the former signalling a thumbs up from the hospital bed, to end the scare.

The most relieving moment on an otherwise gloomy day came when Fletcher himself took to his Twitter handle to thank everyone for the wishes.

Earlier in the day, Notts head coach Peter Moores said, "Luke has obviously got concussion but the reports we're hearing back are that they think he's going to be fine and hopefully he will go home either tonight or tomorrow morning.

"It sounds good news at the moment and we're looking forward to catching up with him when he's back and hopefully okay," Moores said.

Moores also lauded the ground facilities while expressing his heartfelt thanks to the team physio and the team of doctors who immediately attended to the injured pacer. "(Birmingham) were very understanding and, more importantly, efficient. They had a doctor on site straight away and the paramedics here. Credit too to James Pipe, our physio, he is meticulous in all trauma-related stuff as is (Birmingham's) physio, and they worked together straight away.

'It's nice to see that, at any sporting venue, everything is in place should something like that happen.'

Dan Christian, one of Fletcher's teammates, said, "'We were all really rattled when it happened but when we got back to the dressing room the doctor assured us Luke was in a good way and it was only a flesh wound so that was very reassuring."

Birmingham first-team coach Jim Troughton said: "It is great to start with back-to-back wins but, first and foremost, tonight is about making sure than Fletch is okay.

"It was a nasty thing to happen to him but when play resumed, as far as we were concerned, he was on his way to hospital to get stitched up and chatting to his family.

"Of course, we all wish him a speedy recovery," he added.

The sensitive Birmingham crowd lifted Fletcher's spirits with a warm applause as the ambulance left the field. The pacer was also seen sporting a thumbs up at the reaction. Before play resumed, Moores was seen addressing his boys on the field who looked shocked in the aftermath of the unfortunate event.

Cricbuzz

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Luke Fletcher suffers head injury in T20 Blast game - Cricbuzz