Kettering Town Cricket Club: 'Thank goodness we have a defibrillator'

A cricket club that came to the aid of a player who had a sudden cardiac arrest during a match said "thank goodness" it had a defibrillator.

Kettering Town CC were playing Weekley and Warkton on Sunday when one of the cricketers collapsed.

Club chairman Martin Reece said a wife of one of the players, a nurse, attended to the man, who played for the visiting side.

They also used the club's defibrillator which it bought four or five years ago.

Mr Reece said an ambulance came in less than 10 minutes of the call, at about 15:30 BST.

He said the man, aged in his 50s, was taken to Kettering General Hospital, where he was in a stable condition.

"Thank goodness we have a defibrillator, thank goodness we had a nurse there and thank goodness we are only five minutes away from the hospital and the ambulance attended quickly," he said.

Mr Reece said he had recently reminded club members that they had a defibrillator after footballer Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest in Denmark's European Championships match against Finland earlier this month.

He said although the club had not had to use it before, "thankfully" they had kept it maintained and in working order.

Mr Reece, who has been part of the cricket club for 30 years, said everybody at the club wished the player the "very, very best for a full recovery".

"I have known the guy for 30 years, he has got me out many times and he is a very good player," he added.

Mr Reece said he hoped more clubs could be supported so that they could buy a defibrillator.

"We might be in the minority of clubs that have got this and, given it's a sport where we've got 50- and 60-year-olds playing, it would be good if some funding could be made available so more clubs could have them."

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