Bexhill pair save opponent’s life

David Tungate momentarily stopped breathing after being struck by the ball, but Bexhill first team manager Hamish Russell and player Jamie Bristow-Diamond ‘brought him back from the dead’.

Russell said: “I will never forget the look on the guy’s face. He was a goner at one point. It was pretty traumatic there for a while, but I think it was more frightening after the actual event.”

The drama started when Tungate, 17, was struck around the rib cage by the penultimate ball of the 37th over in this Sussex Cricket League Division Two fixture delivered by Mark Steketee.

“The guy went down like he was winded,” continued Russell. “Everyone thought he just needs a moment. I looked across and the next thing I saw was the umpires wandering over to see if he was okay.

“I went and got him a drink of water and took it out there, but the moment I saw him it was quite apparent there was something not right about him. I was trying to chat to him and seeing if I could get some sort of response.

“One of the young lads from Lewes who was around at the time had a ‘phone on him and I said ‘could you please ring for an ambulance because I think this is a bit more serious than we realised’?

“We were checking he was okay and still breathing, but halfway through the ‘phone call he wasn’t breathing, and there was no pulse and no response. I got him onto his back, and started CPR and mouth-to-mouth.

“He was regaining some form of breath and you could see there was a bit of life in him, but it was very faint. Jamie was standing over my shoulder and he said ‘do you want some help’?

“I was so tired by this stage so Jamie and I took in turns to do repetitions. We must’ve been going for about five minutes before the ambulance crew turned up and they took over.”

The full article will appear in Friday’s Bexhill Observer.