London: Tom Maynard, a promising young Surrey batsman has been found dead on the tracks of the District Line in south London after a police chase.

His body was found on the rails near Wimbledon Park tube station in the early Monday.

Maynard, 23, son of former England player and coach Matthew, played in a Twenty20 match against Kent in Beckenham Sunday afternoon and hours later, at about 4.15 a.m., the Metropolitan police stopped his black Mercedes in Wimbledon, south London," after it was seen being driven erratically," reports the Guardian.

The police stated that the driver - Maynard - fled, and was not seen again until around 5 a.m. when he was pronounced dead at the scene, a tube driver having alerted the authorities to a body on the line. The incident has been reported to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but is being treated as non-suspicious.

England players were stunned by the news when they were informed by team director Andy Flower before a practice session at the Oval, where the flag on the pavilion flew at half-mast. England squad member Jade Dernbach, who was a Surrey team-mate and a close friend, has been given the option of taking compassionate leave for the remaining two matches of the one-day series.

Surrey have postponed a Twenty20 match against Hampshire scheduled at the Oval Wednesday asa mark of respect.

The one-day international will go ahead at their request, with both teams expected to wear black arm bands and a minute's silence to be held before the start.

"It's an absolute tragedy," said Hugh Morris, the managing director of the England and Wales Cricket Board who was a long-time team-mate of Matthew Maynard's at Glamorgan.

"I've known Tom since he was a little boy. Our hearts go out to his parents, Matthewand Sue, and to all his friends and family. He was an incredibly talented cricketer and an incredibly likeable young man who had the world at his feet."

Richard Thompson, the Surrey chairman, described his death as "an utterly senseless tragedy". It is the third to hit the Surrey club in 15 years,following the death of the wicketkeeper Graham Kersey in 1997 and Ben Hollioake, another highly gifted young cricketer who had played for England, at the age of 24 in March 2002, in each case after a car crash in Australia.

Adam Hollioake, Ben's elder brother and a former Surrey captain, wrote: "Wot is going on at Surrey? R we cursed or something? Graham Kersey, my bro, now this." (IANS)