Surrey cricket is in shock after an Elmbridge cricketer died while playing in Long Ditton on Sunday.

Bavalan Pathmanathan, who played for Hersham-based Manipay Parish Sports Club in Division Three of the British Tamil League, was hit in the chest at Long Ditton Recreation Grounds.

He was given CPR and treated by an ambulance crew and air ambulance doctors who attended the scene, but subsequently passed away from his injuries.

Surrey County Cricket Club chief executive Richard Gould expressed his sadness and shock the incident has caused, both within the county’s wider cricketing community and Tamil community's cricket family.

“Everyone at the club has been deeply saddened to learn of Bavalan’s death and would like to extend their sympathies to his family, friends and everyone who knew him from within the community of cricket," he said.

The news comes less than eight months after Australian international Phillip Hughes died after being hit on the top of the neck by a cricket ball during a first class Sheffield Shield match for South Australia against New South Wales in Sydney.