Hampshire Seniors’ match against Devon in the Seveevent Over Sixties County Championship was abandoned when visiting captain Nick Rogers collapsed on the boundary line at the Hampshire Hogs ground at Warnford just after he had batted.
The 45-over match, played at the idyllic Hogs ground in the heart of the Meon Valley watercress region, was reaching a potentially thrilling climax with Devon 222-5 and requiring 16 runs off the last 13 balls of the match to overhaul Hampshire’s 237 all out.
Devon captain Nick Rogers, 61, who plays for and is chairman of Hatherleigh cricket club, suffered a cardiac arrest as he approached the boundary rope in front of the pavilion after being dismissed leg before wicket for 29.
An air ambulance, two paramedics and three police vehicles attended the scene – the emergency services taking over an hour to treat and stabilise Mr Rogers, who was taken to Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth, where he underwent emergency surgery. His family are now with him.
The fact that Nick Rogers’ life was saved on the field owed much to the forward thinking Hampshire Seniors Club, who several seasons ago bought several defibrillators after one of their own cricketer, Jim Smallbone collapsed in a veterans match in West Sussex. One of the defibrillators was used on this occasion.
Earlier, left-hander Geoff Beale underpinned Hampshire’s 237 with a splendid 110. Mike Swain made 43.
The 45-over match, played at the idyllic Hogs ground in the heart of the Meon Valley watercress region, was reaching a potentially thrilling climax with Devon 222-5 and requiring 16 runs off the last 13 balls of the match to overhaul Hampshire’s 237 all out.
Devon captain Nick Rogers, 61, who plays for and is chairman of Hatherleigh cricket club, suffered a cardiac arrest as he approached the boundary rope in front of the pavilion after being dismissed leg before wicket for 29.
An air ambulance, two paramedics and three police vehicles attended the scene – the emergency services taking over an hour to treat and stabilise Mr Rogers, who was taken to Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth, where he underwent emergency surgery. His family are now with him.
The fact that Nick Rogers’ life was saved on the field owed much to the forward thinking Hampshire Seniors Club, who several seasons ago bought several defibrillators after one of their own cricketer, Jim Smallbone collapsed in a veterans match in West Sussex. One of the defibrillators was used on this occasion.
Earlier, left-hander Geoff Beale underpinned Hampshire’s 237 with a splendid 110. Mike Swain made 43.
