Fast bowler Luke Fletcher who plays for the Nottinghamshire in the English County League has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a concussion after being hit on his follow through during a T20 Blast game on Saturday at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground. The seam bowler was examined in the ground before being quickly moved to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and though he was discharged on Sunday he had to return on Tuesday to undergo some further tests.
“Following consultation with doctors, Luke has been ruled out for the rest of the 2017 season to allow adequate time to recover and complete a monitored care plan to ensure he has a safe return to play,” Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket Mick Newell was quoted as saying by the ESPN Cricinfo.
“Whilst we are all obviously very disappointed, Luke’s health is of paramount importance and comes first. We will continue to give him every support as he undergoes his recovery,” he further added. The injury occurred during the 4th over of Birmingham’s run chase when Fletcher had the ball in hand. His very first ball of the night was smashed with utter disdain by Sam Hain straight back towards gum and it struck his head on the follow through.
Seeing the reactions of the players it was pretty certain that they considered it to be a very serious issue. The umpire called for medical assistance almost immediately and despite being struck on the head Fletcher was conscious and was taken off the field by the physio with a towel over his face. He was then moved to a hospital in Nottingham for further scrutiny.
English fast bowler and his teammate Jake Ball posted a picture of Fletcher on his Twitter handle with a caption “Horrible injury to @fletcherluke but looks like he’s doing well off to hospital #legend”. Despite wearing an oxygen mask he gave a thumbs up. The incident halted the match for around half an hour and when it did resume Birmingham clinched a nail-biting thriller by 6 wickets with a delivery to spare.