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Stone sunk by freak celebration injury

Northants bowler Olly Stone's joy at a wicket turned to despair as his leaping celebration ended with him being carted off the ground

An overly exuberant wicket celebration has ended Northamptonshire fast bowler Olly Stone's season, with his club today confirming the freak incident resulted in damage to his anterior cruciate ligament.

Stone was thrilled when he had England allrounder Moeen Ali, fresh off an unbeaten 155 in the second Test against Sri Lanka, caught behind in the fourth over of a T20 match against Worcestershire on Friday.

But his leap of delight and air-punch after the dismissal ended in disaster when he landed awkwardly on his knee and fell in a heap.

The 22-year-old bravely attempted to finish the over but he collapsed in the delivery stride and had to be carried from the field.

After scans and an assessment by an orthopaedic knee surgeon, Northamptonshire confirmed he'd damaged his ACL and cartilage.

Image Id: ~/media/A5E46849008E4C0185F1A0110413718E Image Caption: Moeen Ali is caught, sparking the celebration from Olly Stone // Getty
Image Id: ~/media/C376EEC8BA8046A897C29DC6245A69A7 Image Caption: Stone launches himself airborne but hurts his knee on the way down // Getty
Image Id: ~/media/DF65F887D80341EFBE735055D8C630BE Image Caption: He tried to bowl the next ball, but collapsed in his delivery stride // Getty
Image Id: ~/media/A116F1841EC4498E999FD35ED1F972AE Image Caption: The 22-year-old grimaces in agony as concerned teammates gather round // Getty
Image Id: ~/media/10B563711C1149EF9ED2D9DB2C3DD7C2 Image Caption: Unable to continue, he was carried from the ground // Getty

"We will do all we can to support Olly through a programme of treatment and recovery," Northampton Steelbacks head physio Barry Goudriaan said in a statement.

"He couldn't be in better hands with our local consultant Professor Bill Ribbans and now Mr Andrew Williams in London."

Stone, who was last year called up to the England Performance Program squad and is touted as one of the fastest bowlers in English cricket vowed to "come back stronger".

Northamptonshire also confirmed former South Africa allrounder Richard Levi is having scans to determine the extent of a shoulder injury sustained during yesterday's record-breaking domestic one-day match against Nottinghamshire.

Quick Single: Records tumble in English List A

Notts racked up mammoth 8-445 and the Steelbacks looked odds-on to chase it down before eventually being bowled out 20 runs short, with the 870 runs scored for the day the second highest match aggregate in the history of List A cricket.