Horror attack on Huddersfield cricket star Chris Thomson

Jun 17 2009 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

CRICKETER Craig Thomson has lost the ability to talk after he was bludgeoned with a brick in an unprovoked attack.

The 26-year-old Clayton West Cricket Club player is on the high dependency unit at Leeds General Infirmary after being knocked out outside a nightclub.

He had been with a group of players on a night out in Leeds following a game when he was assaulted in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The attack happened just weeks after bowler Thomson, who has been living in the village, had arrived in the UK from Perth in Australia to play for Clayton West.

Club chairman Simon Thornhill, who has been visiting Thomson in hospital, said: “This was an absolutely disgraceful thing to happen.

“The fact that you can’t go for a night out to enjoy yourself without being the victim of a completely unprovoked attack that puts you in a high dependency unit is disgusting.

“I’m so saddened for him and his family. As chairman of the cricket club I feel partly responsible, because we brought him over here.

“We are just hoping he makes a speedy recovery.”

The players had been to the Mint Club in Leeds city centre following Clayton West’s Drakes League home encounter with Honley on Saturday.

After leaving at about 3.45am on Sunday, they were jumped by a single attacker with a brick.

Thomson, who has played eight times since arriving in the UK in May, was hit on the front of the head and blacked out when his head hit the pavement.