Luke Fletcher: Notts bowler discharged from hospital following head injury

Fletcher walked off the field with the help of a physio

Nottinghamshire bowler Luke Fletcher was discharged from hospital on Sunday, less than 24 hours after being hit on the head during a T20 Blast game.

The 28-year-old was concussed when he was struck by a straight drive from Birmingham Bears' Sam Hain.

Notts physio Jamie Pipe, who went with Fletcher to hospital in Birmingham, said he was "in good spirits".

Pipe added: "It looks like he is going to be fine, but we will obviously continue to monitor him very closely."

Saturday's match at Edgbaston was held up for 30 minutes after the incident, but Fletcher managed to walk off the field and posted a new message on Twitter on Sunday morning to again thank people for their concern.

Pipe said: "The game has strong emergency care plans in place and I would just like to thank all the staff at Edgbaston as we worked together to implement them.

"They were amazing in terms of the support they gave and could not have done more."

Birmingham eventually won the game by six wickets but Notts coach Peter Moores told BBC Radio Nottingham that restarting following Fletcher's injury had been a difficult decision.

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

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

'Sickening injury'

BBC Radio Nottingham's Robin Chipperfield

The crowd applauded Luke Fletcher off the pitch, and minutes later the Notts bowler's team-mates were also clapped off. They needed some time to gather their thoughts.

One of the most popular players in the dressing room, and a folk hero for many fans, had been felled by a fiercely struck drive. It was a sickening injury.

At that moment, it was unclear whether the match could continue. How could the Notts players concentrate on bowling and fielding, knowing that one of theirs was injured?

Minutes earlier they'd been covering their faces with shock, with Samit Patel shedding tears for his colleague. Hain looked visibly disturbed too.

After a delay, during which time team-mate Jake Ball tweeted a picture of Fletcher with his thumbs up in the back of an ambulance, the Notts players felt able to carry on.

But the incident leads to an important question - with the ball being hit so ferociously these days, do bowlers need protection?