Norfolk cricket star Olly Stone has vowed to bounce back after seeing his season brought to a premature end by a serious knee injury.
The former Thorpe St Andrew School pupil sustained a compact knee injury with anterior cruciate ligament and cartilage involvement when playing for Northamptonshire.
The 22-year-old pace bowler – who helped Norfolk to a five-wicket win over Lincolnshire at Manor Park last month – suffered the injury as Northants Steelbacks beat Worcestershire Rapids in the Natwest T20 Blast on Friday night.
After the news was announced the Brundall-raised cricketer, who still plays for Vauxhall Mallards when he can, used his @OllyStone2 Twitter account to say: 'Absolutely gutted about my scan results, but will come back stronger because of it.'
The injury is particularly frustrating for Stone as he was just getting back up to full speed following a back problem which had forced him to drop out of the England Lions squad during the winter.
In a further cruel twist, the knee injury happened when Stone was celebrating taking a key wicket for Northants.
England all-rounder Moeen Ali was caught down the leg side when trying to hook a bouncer from the bowler and Stone then leapt in the air to celebrate, only to land in a heap.
After treatment the former England U19s captain tried to complete his over but collapsed during his run-up and had to be carried from the ground.
He has now been referred to Harley Street knee expert Andrew Williams, who has treated a host of top sports stars, including former England rugby captain Lawrence Dallaglio.
In a statement Barry Goudriaan, head physio at Northants, said: 'We will do all we can to support Olly through a programme of treatment and recovery.'
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