Craig Kieswetter suffers gruesome facial injury

Craig Kieswetter shared this picture via his official twitter handle

England wicket-keeper batsman Craig Kieswetter suffered a gruesome facial injury while playing for Somerset in a County Championship fixture against Northamptonshire on Saturday.

Kieswetter, who has played for England in 46 One Day Internationals and 26 Twenty20 internationals, completely missed the attempted pull off a bouncer from left-arm fast bowler David Willey as the ball sneaked in between the protective-covering of the helmet and the grill to hit him on his right eye.

Playing an LV= County Championship match at the County ground, Northampton, the right-hander fell down bleeding heavily and was forced to retired hurt for 14.

Speaking on the severity of the injury, Somerset’s director of cricket Dave Nosworthy said: “Craig is in very safe and capable hands at this time. These freak cricketing accidents happen from time to time and I am confident with the right care that he will come through this set back. Naturally Craig will no longer take part in this match, and I am thus sure that you will all join in – in wishing Craig a speedy recovery.”

Former England opener and Somerset skipper Marcus Trescothick said: "He's still being assessed. He'll see people, we're going to pop in and see him in a bit and we'll get to know a bit more after that. It wasn't particularly nice and it was a nasty situation when we were out there.”

The medical reports later revealed that the 26-year-old has endured a broken cheek bone and a nose fracture.

Seeing the funny side of the injury, the South African-born posted from his official twitter handle: “I took keeping your 'eye on the ball' to a completely new level.”

Kieswetter is more known for his batting efforts in England’s 2010 T20 World Cup winning campaign.