A county championship match between Gloucestershire and Durham was stopped after a helicopter landed in the middle of the cricket ground to halt the progress of play. This happened at the Bristol County Ground was only five balls old when the air ambulance came into land, disrupting play on the first day of the Division Two fixture for 20 minutes.
An announcement confirmed that the landing of the helicopter was due to a ‘critical incident locally’ which was informed to the ground staff.
Durham bowler Chris Rushworth posted a video of the air ambulance landing as the players made their way from the field, with the caption: ‘This is a first!!!!! Helicopter stops play.’
Helicopter Stops County Cricket Match
This is a first!!!!! Helicopter stops play. pic.twitter.com/ATqRg98A2V
— Chris Rushworth (@ChrisRush22) September 21, 2021
South Western Ambulance Service then released a statement of their own, saying the air ambulance ‘supported our response to an emergency incident at a nearby residential address,’ and was able to do so ‘due to the prominence of the air ambulance’s landing location.’
Only five balls were bowled in the match that a helicopter landed on the field. After this it took about 20 minutes for the match to start again.
During the ongoing match, it was suddenly announced that an air ambulance was being launched on the field to immediately take the victims of a serious accident to the hospital. Then the Great Western Air Ambulance charity helicopter landed on the ground and the players were removed from there.
‘The team were on the way back to their air base after responding to another call-out in Bridgwater, with a Critical Care Doctor and two Specialist Paramedics on board, so landed at the nearby Bristol County Grounds in order to get to the patient quickly.
‘We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused to all those at the cricket grounds and thank them for their cooperation in allowing our crew to land safely and respond to the patient in need.’
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