The horrific incident took place during the Test match between England and New Zealand at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. England fast bowler Joffra Archer hit New Zealand spinner Blair Tickner on the head, leaving him concussed. The amazing thing was that, despite the injury, Tickner hit the ball and later came onto the field to serve the ball. But after a medical examination confirmed a concussion, he was ruled out of the remainder of the match.
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New Zealand Cricket has officially confirmed that Blair Tickner will no longer be available for this Test match. Instead, Zachary Fox, who suffered a concussion, was included in the team. The incident occurred in the 114th over of New Zealand’s first innings. Joffra Archer troubled the batsmen with his pace. He hit the second ball with a short pitch that rose quickly and hit Blair Tickner square in the helmet.
🚨CONCERNING MOMENT! 😬🏏
Jofra Archer’s fiery bouncer slams into Blair Tickner’s helmet, sending him to the ground.
Tickner immediately removes his helmet as the physical therapist runs onto the field to examine him. I wish him a speedy recovery. 🙏#ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/OxyoZbHKka
— Farhan Majeed (@MBilawalMajeed) June 26, 2026
As soon as the ball was kicked, Blair Tickner fell to the ground and for a few moments there was silence on the field. The New Zealand medical team immediately arrived on the field and assessed the concussion. However, after an initial investigation, he was allowed to continue playing. Tickner showed courage and continued batting and came back to score 4 unbeaten runs.
Despite such a serious head injury, Blair Tickner also took the field in England’s first innings. He bowled three overs and conceded 21 runs. But after a while he was called from the field. After the end of the playing day, he was examined again by the medical team, who confirmed a concussion.
New Zealand Cricket subsequently issued a statement saying: “Blair Tickner was hit on his helmet by a ball while batting in the first innings. After a medical examination, he was ruled out of the remainder of the match due to concussion. Zachary Foulkes was named to the team instead.
Talking about the match, on the second day (June 26), New Zealand started the game with the score of 361/4. It looked like the team might score around 500 runs, but England’s bowlers came back brilliantly to restrict the visiting team to 438 runs in the first innings. New Zealand lost their last six wickets, adding just 77 runs. England captain Ben Stokes took four wickets. While Joffra Archer and Shoaib Bashir took two wickets each.
In reply to 438 runs, England made a poor start and Emilio Gay returned to the pavilion without opening the scoring. But then Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethel dashed New Zealand’s hopes. Duckt, who struggled with poor form in Ashes 2025, made a brilliant comeback and played a strong innings of 113 runs. It was the seventh century of his Test career. At the end of the second day of play, England had scored 223 runs for 2 wickets and were only 215 runs behind New Zealand. Jacob Bethel returned not out on 74 and Joe Root made 21 runs.
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