BOWLS player Brian Pryke was literally hit for six - after a cricket ball came crashing down on his head.

BOWLS player Brian Pryke was literally hit for six - after a cricket ball came crashing down on his head.

He was bowled straight over by the flying ball, caught on the side of his head, and left dazed as paramedics were called.

Only moments before, he had predicted someone could be struck if one of the cricket players in the ground next door hit a thumping six.

Mr Pryke, 68, of New Road, Trimley St Mary, was playing in a bowls match at Mistley when the incident happened.

The village's bowls and cricket clubs are only separated by a fence and with Sri Lankan Indika Seneratne in dazzling form, it wasn't long before the balls started coming over onto the bowls green.

“The paramedics told me I was very lucky - if it had hit me straight on I would have been seriously hurt, perhaps even killed,” said Mr Pryke.

“It hit me on the side of the forehead, a sort of glancing blow, but I was knocked right over and there was blood all over my bowls whites.

“The paramedics came and treated me and bandaged it up, and then yesterday I had to go to hospital to have the dressing changed.”

Mr Pryke, who lives with his wife Valerie, and are both members of the Trimley (Cranfield) Bowls Club, said he had seen some of the cricket on Sunday and the Sri Lankan, who made 281, had been phenomenal.

“I joked that we could be in real trouble if the ball came over the fence from one of his sixes and minutes later it did,” he said.

“It's quite extraordinary and a bizarre thing to happen when you were just enjoying a quiet game of bowls.”

Robin Mills, secretary of Mistley Cricket Club, said club officials had been in touch with Mr Pryke and were very concerned.

“We have never had an incident before of anyone being hit by a cricket ball and the last thing we want to do is to upset our neighbours. We are taking this very seriously and already looking at what action we might take to prevent this from happening in the future,” he said.

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