Jarreau Hayward, the St George’s player-coach, has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken leg.

The experienced defender suffered the injury during his team’s FA Cup first-round upset over Premier Division side Devonshire Cougars at Wellington Oval at the weekend.

The incident occurred in the sixth minute of the tie when Hayward and Cougars forward Allan Douglas, who plays Cup Match for St George’s, challenged for a loose ball.

“I witnessed the whole incident and it wasn’t a pretty sight,” Neil Paynter, the St George’s Cricket Club president, said. “Jarreau actually cleared the ball and Allan’s follow-through caught him.

“Jarreau has broken his leg. I can’t give a description as to how severe it is, but he did break his leg.

“It’s definitely a big miss but his health is more important than anything else for us.

“Having him play again is not really our concern. Our concern is that he gets back on his feet and gets back to full health. We’re just hoping that he has a speedy recovery.”

Paynter, a former St George’s and Bermuda defender, said the club will meet this week to find an interim coach to take over the helm in Hayward’s absence.

“We do have people who have been assisting Jarreau, so until he’s back we are sure they will step into place,” Paynter added. “We will review it this week and as a club we will make a decision.”

St George’s advanced to the quarter-finals of the competition after prevailing 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out, the tie having remained goalless through extra time. It is the third straight season that the East Enders have claimed a top-flight scalp in the competition, having upset Somerset Trojans and Boulevard in the first round of the previous two campaigns.