Dion Stovell says he is “doing well” and taking it “one day at a time” as he recovers from a nasty blow he took to the head late on the second day of Cup Match at Wellington Oval.

The Somerset all-rounder was struck near his temple by a ball from St George’s seamer Justin Pitcher facing the first ball of his team’s second innings after being promoted up the order.

After being attended to by medics at the crease, Stovell was taken to hospital for further observation and discharged.

“As far as the incident, it’s not something I want to talk about,” said Stovell, who retired hurt on the opening day with a sore knee, before returning.

“But I’ll take this time, first of all, to thank Dr Amane Foggo, Jay Donawa, Daniel Morgan and Tika [St George’s physio]. I’ll also like to thank the public for all their concerns as well.

“I’m taking it one day at a time to recover and I’m doing well.”

The incident left St George’s all-rounder Pitcher totally distraught.

“I hope it’s all good, I love your boy [Stovell] you know,” he said. “That really hurt me, I’ve been feeling bad ever since.

“I have a lot of respect, that’s my skipper for the national team squad.”

The incident was a most unfortunate turn of events for Stovell who had earlier stroked a polished and maiden Cup Match half-century and claimed three wickets with his off spin.

The early order bat stroked 79 from 74 balls, hitting eight fours and two sixes.

“It’s an innings that the Somerset fans have been waiting for so for them that one is for you,” he said.

Stovell also featured in a vital 102-run sixth wicket partnership with Jordan DeSilva, the Somerset captain, that steadied the ship after the champions slipped to 119 for four in reply to St George’s first innings total of 297 for six declared.

“As far as the batting plan with the skipper and me, we talked about it in our meeting night before start of play on the second day,” Stovell said. “We both had the same game plan trying to score while getting set.

“I just feel our partnership came at the right time to stabilise our innings with some challenging bowling from St George’s.

“I thought they bowled in some good areas. They mixed the lengths up so it was challenging.”

DeSilva, who stroked 77, added: “We were not worried about how fast we were scoring, it was all about time. “The first goal was to get to lunch and then anything after that was a bonus and I think we batted maybe two hours after lunch.”

Jeff Richardson, the Somerset coach and former batsman, hailed Stovell’s superb knock at the crease.

“I think the innings of Dion Stovell put us back in control,” he said. “Our objective going into the second day was not to lose wickets before lunch and then after that chip away at the score.

“Once we passed their score we knew we could not lose the match so there was always an opportunity to try and win it.

“We came down first to try and win and I was very pleased with the team’s performance.”

Somerset ultimately retained their Cup Match crown after the match ended in a draw.