by David SharmanPublished 25 Feb 2016

A weekly newspaper entertainments editor was stabbed just minutes after realising his dream of watching England play cricket abroad.

Chichester Observer journalist Phil Hewitt was left with severe bruising and two broken ribs following the attack in Cape Town.

Phil was walking back to a friend’s home after watching the national side play against South Africa in a one-day international earlier this month when a man “suddenly launched at him”, demanding he hand over his camera.

He was then stabbed twice in the leg before being beaten on the ground.

Said Phil of his ordeal: “Stupidly I resisted and his reaction was to thump me in the upper and lower leg left leg and push me into the ground, where we tussled.

“At least they felt like punches, When he started kicking my leg, I saw it was streaming with blood, he had stabbed me. He also kicked me in back and stomach while I was on the ground.”

Phil, who is still being treated in hospital in Cape Town, required 11 stitches for the two deep stab wounds, one of which swelled up with a haematoma.

He was also left with extensive bruising to his back and shoulders and two broken ribs, but is now recovering and being monitored by doctors for liver damage.

Phil, 51, added: “The upshot is that I have since been on the right end of the most astonishing kindness.

“I was picked up by a lovely pizza delivery guy in a car. He even took his pizza sign off the roof so he could break every red light to get me to the hospital quicker.

“And the docs and nurses have been outstanding.”

Journalist Stabbed While Following Cricket Team - World News Report - EIN News