Match Emergency Procedures

ECB reviewing match emergency procedures.

Nick Hoult.

London Daily Telegraph.

Sunday, 16 July 2017.

PTG 2204-11161.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are reviewing their emergency safety procedures in the professional game as they react to Nottinghamshire seam bowler Luke Fletcher's injury last week.  Fletcher has been ruled out for the rest of the season after being struck on the head in his follow through in a Twenty20 fixture at Edgbaston two Saturdays ago (PTG 2200-11142, 13 July 2017).    .

Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, chaired the first meeting of the newly formed emergency care committee last week, its role being to standardise life saving procedures for cricketers playing in professional matches.  The committee was formed before Fletcher was struck in the head, but that incident has focused minds in cricket about the dangers in the professional game.  The meeting followed a report last year by Peirce that reviewed cricket’s emergency care procedures which has already seen changes brought in such as a physio for each team in second XI cricket and life saving training for umpires.

In May last year, ECB umpire Tim Robinson credited first aid training given to him and his colleagues before the start of the 2016 season with enabling him to provide initial assistance to Middlesex captain Adam Voges after he was struck by a ball on the back of his head (PTG 1819-9100, 4 May 2016).