St David’s’ Premier Division Twenty20 title hopes have been dealt a blow with the loss of key player OJ Pitcher through injury.The all-rounder injured his knee during his team’s defeat against St George’s in the Twenty20 Premier Division at Lord’s at the weekend. He is now battling to regain fitness before the end of a season shortened because of the Covid-19 pandemic.“I will be out for possibly up to four weeks or so depending on how fast the knee heals,” Pitcher said. Pitcher was prescribed anti-inflammatory pills and is walking with the aid of a cane.“Unfortunately it’s a part of sport,” Pitcher added. “Injuries come with the territory and it is what it is. I just have to take care of the body and try and get myself back up and going as soon as possible. Hopefully by then we are still in a decent position to make it to the finals of the Twenty20.”Pitcher, who competed for Bermuda at the 2007 ICC World Cup in the Caribbean, injured himself while bowling his final over from the southern end of the ground. He was helped off the field by team-mates and never returned.“Osagi [Bascome] hit the ball out into the covers and immediately called for the run,” he explained. “Hearing the call I planted my foot and then twisted my body to try and get back to the stumps to receive the ball in case it came back to the bowler’s end, which was my end.“Walking back to my mark, I could feel pain each time I put pressure on the leg and by the time I got back and attempted to turn to run in and bowl again a sharp pain was hitting. That’s what sent me to the ground and the players helped to carry me off.“What made matters worse was obviously being on the side watching and the team end up losing.”Pitcher added: “Obviously very disappointing and frustrating. You put in the work leading up to the season to prepare yourself then we were on lockdown so the team couldn’t train together. [You’re] putting in that work on your own to make sure that you are prepared so to have this happen two games into the season is very frustrating.”Ricky Brangman, the St David’s coach, admits Pitcher’s injury is a major setback.“OJ is one of my key players and he will be a big miss,” Brangman said. “I wish him the best and we are just going to have to play with what we have.“There’s a lot of youngsters coming through and if we have to play them then we have to play them. We still have enough senior players to guide them along.”