Bruised Broad unhurt in 'heavyweight' clash

Luke Fletcher's successful return to first-class cricket after a sickening head knock last year has not been without incident, with the Englishman flattening one of his country’s key bowlers in a bruising mid-pitch collision.

Stuart Broad came off second best as the Nottinghamshire tail-enders ran into each other during their County Championship victory over Worcestershire on Monday, with both thankfully unhurt.

Nonetheless shaken up by what he mockingly described as a "heavyweight" fight, Broad required medical attention as he gears up for England's Test series against Pakistan later this month.

The 31-year-old nearly copped some more friendly fire when Fletcher unleashed a pair of tracer-bullet drives that left Broad ducking for cover.

Fletcher later joked that it was great having Broad back in county ranks despite "taking a left hook" from the Test paceman.

The pair claimed 11 wickets between them for the match as Worcestershire, featuring Australian batsman Travis Head (who made 33 and 29) as their overseas player, folded twice for under 150 to hand Notts victory by an innings and 41 runs.

In the first innings, Fletcher took his first five-wicket haul since he had his 2017 season cut short after a powerful drive hit him flush in the head in his follow through during a T20 game.

"It has been a long wait to get a five-wicket haul," Fletcher told the BBC. "The career-best will cost me a round of drinks.

"The conditions are favourable for bowling with the pitch being undercover for two days and the bad weather they've had around and the flooding they had here.

"Bowling first was always going to be the way. Joe Clarke and Travis Head came at the bowlers so it was nice to get the big players out."

Jake Ball, who took his turn to claim five wickets in Worcestershire's second dig, praised Fletcher.

"We always knew that if we did the things right, we were always in the game,' Ball said after the win. "We had the perfect day on Sunday (day three) to set ourselves up for what happened.

"Luke Fletcher bowled unbelievably well and the ball is coming out really nicely for me."

Fletcher had been hospitalised following the incident in July last year, with the knock leaving players, onlookers and the batsman who hit the ball – former Australia Under-19s player Sam Hain – visibly shaken at the time.

The 29-year-old quick revealed earlier this year that it's been a long, painful road back to the elite level.

"I could not do anything for two months," he said. "I had a build-up of pressure in my head and any exercise would have added to the pressure so I pretty much did nothing until the end of the season. I didn't get into training until I came back with the lads in November and not full training until this year.

"I couldn't drive for six months, which was the killer. It was classed as a traumatic brain injury and … you can only drive again when you have a report from your surgeon to say everything is back to normal.

"The club got me a bike and I was cycling in every day. It was more dangerous than driving - I came off it a few times on black ice."

His form in his comeback has been seamless, collecting 14 wickets in three first-class games, to help put Nottinghamshire top of the Division One standings after three games.