Luke Fletcher: Play suspended as Nottinghamshire bowler suffers head injury

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Luke FletcherImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Fletcher walked off the field with the help of a physio

Nottinghamshire bowler Luke Fletcher was struck in the head by a ball during his side's T20 Blast defeat by Birmingham at Edgbaston.

The 28-year-old was hit by a straight drive from Sam Hain and was bleeding but managed to walk off the pitch with the help of a physio.

He was taken to hospital and Notts later confirmed he had a concussion.

Fletcher posted a message on Twitter, external from hospital to thank people for their support.

Players from both sides were visibly shaken by the incident, with some in tears as the match was held up.

The match resumed after a 30-minute delay with Birmingham chasing down Notts' total of 158 to win by six wickets.

Image source, Luke Fletcher
Image caption,

Fletcher posted on Twitter late on Saturday night

Image source, Jake Ball
Image caption,

England bowler Jake Ball revealed good news about Fletcher

Notts head coach Peter Moores came out to talk to his players on the pitch and the players then returned to their respective dressing rooms.

Notts and England bowler Jake Ball posted a picture on Twitter to show his team-mate was in good spirits, apparently in the back of an ambulance.

'It seemed the right thing to do'

Moores told BBC Radio Nottingham that it was a tough decision to restart the game.

"The lads were shaken up. I mean, one of your mates has just gone down.

"We all sat in there [the dressing room] for 20 minutes. A few lads were struggling a bit, but it seemed the right decision to go back and carry the game on.

"Credit to the umpires, they gave us that half-hour to decide what we were going to do."

Nottingham-born Fletcher made his first-class debut for Notts in 2008 and has taken more than 350 wickets across the various formats of the game.

He was part of the side that earlier that beat Surrey to win the One-Day Cup at Lord's on 1 July.