Fylde cricket captain breaks BOTH arms in freak accident - leaving his summer in tatters

Craig Allison, 35, was playing a cool down game with teammates after indoor nets when he tripped over an opponent’s leg and went flying.

The Fylde Cricket Club captain fractured the radius bone in both arms with his left arm now in a cast.

Allison is now unlikely to return to play for the Moore and Smalley Palace Shield side until the end of May at the earliest – missing at least four weeks of the 2023 season.

“The ball was thrown to somebody on the other team and I went to try and intercept the ball,” said Allison, an education manager at Blackpool FC Community Trust.

“I tripped over someone’s leg, went flying through the air and hit the ground with both my arms out.

“I stood up straight away, out of embarrassment really, but then I just went white as a sheet. Both my arms were fizzing.

“The pain was sore in both and then as the hours ticked on I realised that my left arm was significantly worse.”

A teammate drove him home before wife Clare took him to Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

He was seen within an hour-and-a-half before undergoing x-rays and then the plastering of his left arm, which was displaced meaning it needed to be in a cast.

The self-deprecating skipper is now cursing his latest bout of bad luck at home instead of getting ready for the start of the season, which begins on April 29 for the Poulton-based side.

He has previously dislocated his shoulder and torn hamstrings playing cricket, while he’s been knocked out twice playing hockey.

“I’m very, very frustrated because of all the hard work that I’ve done and the team has done,” added Allison, who has a seven-year-old son Zach and daughter Ada, 3.

“But I'm not too angry. I take things with a pinch of salt now. I've had that many injuries – it’s like one a season!

“I was told six weeks on the sidelines before I can start doing stuff I'm allowed to so I’m hoping to be back playing on May 20.”

Vice-captain Dan Smith will now step up while Allison is recovering – although the stricken captain will be down every Saturday to support his teammates, but is unlikely to be carrying out the drinks.

Meanwhile, his predicament has not seen him get too much sympathy at home…

“Zach is pretty good actually but my three-year-old forgets quite often and just continues to think I'm a bouncy castle,” he added.

“And I’m still being encouraged to load the dishwasher so there’s no skiving off.”

Notorious freak cricket injuries

Australian legend Glenn McGrath famously missed the second Ashes test in 2005 with an ankle injury when he trod on a stray cricket ball during a warm-up game of touch-rugby.

And in 2020, England opener Rory Burns was ruled out of the rest of the Test series in South Africa after injuring his ankle playing football in training.