A CRICKET match had to be temporarily abandoned this afternoon (July 1) after play was interrupted by an air ambulance landing on the pitch.
The Great North Air Ambulance was responding to a report of a man in his 40's who had suffered a life-threatening cardiac episode in Richmond.
The helicopter, scrambled from Durham Tees Valley Airport, at 2.45pm took just six minutes to reach Richmond and a further nine minutes to fly the patient to James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough.
He was admitted to a specialist care unit where his condition was described as stable.
The helicopter landed at Richmondshire Cricket Club's Hurgill Road ground during a match between its Under 15 side and a touring team from Melbourne, Australia.
It had been requested by a Yorkshire Ambulance Service crew and a Rapid Response Paramadic who diagnosed the man's condition as life threatening.
A spokesman for the Great North Air Ambulance Service said: "We would like to thank the cricket team who abandoned their match to allow the aircraft to land and load the patient."
For the record, Richmondshire's Under 15's went on to win the match.
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