Hampshire bowler breaks ankle playing football

The West Indian was warming up with team-mates on the final morning of their County Championship division one match against Yorkshire at Headingley when he suffered the freak bone fracture.

It is not yet known how long the injury will keep Edwards out for a club who have a raft of players on the sidelines at the start of the season – including newly-signed England seamer Reece Topley, who broke his hand on his debut.

In a statement on the county’s website, Hampshire confirmed Edwards had broken his right ankle, and will find out the prognosis after a further consultation.

‘Fidel will see a specialist today (Thursday), which will help determine the predicted length of time that he will be out of action for,’ it read.

Edwards, who described his injury as a ‘broken leg’ in an Instagram post from hospital, suffered the injury while playing football on the Headingley outfield.

Hampshire coach Dale Benkenstein said: ‘We were only 45 seconds away from the end of the (football) game when Fidel went to kick the ball.

‘I was just about to get the mitts on for fielding practice when his foot got stuck in the turf, and all his weight went over on it.

‘There was no one near him.

‘It was a really freakish fall, and there was a loud crack.”