South Australian Redbacks opener Henry Hunt has been smashed in the face while attempting to catch a ripping drive from Victorian opener Tom Rogers during the Marsh Cup clash at Junction Oval on Thursday.
It wasn’t the best of days for Hunt or the Redbacks, with Victoria comfortably the winning the 50-over match, and Hunt — who was dismissed for just 5 — for forced from the field after the nasty incident.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Henry Hunt cops vicious blow to face in Marsh Cup.
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There were fears for Hunt’s wellbeing who looked distressed after the incident as blood flowed profusely from his nose.
“Oh no, there’s claret (blood) everywhere,” the commentators said.
“It’s actually copped him in the nose as it’s burst through his hands and he’s bleeding profusely.”
Play was delayed as it took a while for the medical staff to get to the 27-year-old.
“It was at an awkward height to catch, he was obviously trying to get low and wanted to catch it with the fingers pointing up,” the commentator said.
“It won’t be a pretty ending, I would imagine, in terms of bruising below the eyes and nose and cheeks for Henry Hunt.
“There was a lot of claret, wasn’t there, straight away. Let’s hope there’s no breaks.”
Hunt was able to walk unassisted off the field, while the Vics, who were chasing 232 for victory, reached the target with 35 balls to spare.
The red-hot Jake Fraser-McGurk was also sent packing cheaply for the Redbacks as Victoria rocketed to top spot on the Marsh One-Day Cup table ahead of the final round of the season..
Rogers (67), Nic Maddinson (54) and Marcus Harris (43) did the damage with the bat for the Vics.
The Vics now take on second-placed NSW in their final match, with both sides aiming to lock in a spot in the February 25 decider.
Defending champions Western Australia, one point behind NSW and four points behind Victoria, are the only other team capable of snaring a spot in the final.
South Australia remain last with five losses and a no result from their six matches.
Victoria were cruising at 2-177, but their bid to snare the bonus point by winning within 40 overs resulted in a collapse of 5-41.
Jonathan Merlo (14no) and Sam Elliott (8no) slowed the pace from that point on to get Victoria over the line.
The Redbacks recovered from 7-132 to reach a defendable 9-231 after being sent in to bat.
Peter Siddle (2-56) snared the first wicket of the day when Hunt edged through to the keeper with an attempted hook.
Five balls later, X-factor Fraser-McGurk departed for six after dancing down the wicket and striking the impressive Fergus O’Neill (3-38) straight to cover.
It came just two days after Fraser-McGurk cracked 41 off 18 balls for Australia against West Indies.
– With AAP
