Sheffield Cricket Lovers' Society Year Book 2020

29 www.sheffieldcricketlovers.org.uk Cricket can be a dangerous game. Australian opener Phillip Hughes was fatally injured by a bouncer during a match at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 2014, despite wearing a helmet. Bowlers are not afforded any on-field protection when coming in to bowl, and the speed of the ball leaving an opponent’s bat bears comparison with the speed of the fastest bouncer, as Nottinghamshire’s Luke Fletcher, main speaker at our Pie and Pea Supper, can readily testify. In July 2017 he was hit on the head in his follow-through by a full-blooded drive from the Birmingham Bears batsman, Sam Hain, during a T20 Blast match at Edgbaston. Describing the incident, Luke told us that during his approach to the wicket he detected Hain backing away from the stumps and tried to follow him with the ball, but got his radar wrong. The ensuing crack on his head was audible in the press box, according to co-speaker Dave Bracegirdle of BBC Radio Nottingham. With blood pouring from his head wound, Luke took the obligatory on-field concussion test before going back to the dressing room for stitches. Notts Outlaws lost that match but went on to win the T20 Blast Final – ironically against Birmingham Bears – though without the support of Luke, who was ruled out for the rest of the season. As he openly admitted, he had had a lucky escape. If Edgbaston was a cricketing low, then Lord’s, seven days earlier, was a career high, playing in the Notts side that lifted the Royal London One-Day Cup against Surrey. He recalled the lead-up to the game: light training at Lord’s on the Friday, bonding team talk, sushi bar meal, Love Island on TV before lights out, no sleep, too nervous to eat breakfast, warming up on the hallowed turf, opening the bowling from the Pavilion End ...and seeing Jason Roy dropped at slip off the first ball! Luke, a classic case of ‘local boy made good’, was determined to succeed at Notts and took a variety of jobs – assistant chef at Hooters restaurant, steward at Trent Bridge – while playing club and 2nd XI cricket, before finally getting a contract in 2008. He is now the mainstay of the Notts bowling attack, taking nearly 500 wickets in all forms of cricket. With his relaxed, outgoing personality it is easy to understand why Luke is such a crowd favourite at Trent Bridge, if not at Scarborough. After an indifferent spell and with Yorkshire in sight of victory at the seaside ground, a wag in the crowd called out to him, “Fletcher, when are you coming back on to bowl so that we can all clear off home”. Head case has total recall 7 March 2019 Luke Fletcher Current player Dave Bracegirdle Broadcaster/author & Luke Fletcher & Dave Bracegirdle