Lee Nurse: Memorial matches held for cricketer who died with Covid

Mr Nurse is being honoured with two Twenty20 matches

Former England and Hampshire cricket players are set to play matches in memory of a cricketer who died in hospital with Covid-19.

Lee Nurse, a former captain of both Basingstoke and Finchampstead Cricket Clubs, died aged 43 on 9 April 2020.

Two Twenty20 matches are being held at the Basingstoke's ground, May's Bounty.

The first match will be made up of players from the club, the second will feature guests including Phil DeFreitas, Shaun Udal and Julian Wood.

Former Hampshire and West Indies Test great Sir Gordon Greenidge is also attending as a guest.

Mr Nurse's father, Leon Nurse said he expected up to 500 people to attend the free event which he described as "a celebration of Lee's life and spirit".

People lined the streets as the cortege passed through Basingstoke

He said: "Lee died last year but with the Covid restrictions we couldn't give him a good send off.

"It was so hard. We just had to go home and cry our eyes out."

Due to the Covid-19 restrictions at the time, the funeral was attended by just members of his immediate family.

Hundreds of mourners waved crickets bats as the funeral cortege made its way through Basingstoke to the crematorium.

Lee Nurse started playing at the ground in Basingstoke when he was eight years old. He was Finchampstead captain for the 2006 and 2007 seasons and also played for Berkshire County Cricket Club for many years.

The first match got under way at 11:00 BST, the second was expected to start at 15:00.