Members of the public lifted a large SUV to rescue a woman who was pinned to a fence after the vehicle struck her and another bystander at a Sydney netball ground.

Witnesses described a group of men lifting the vehicle to free the 66-year-old woman after the driver lost control of her car while parking at the Bellingara Netball Courts in Miranda, in Sydney’s outer south, on Saturday.

Police said the 73-year-old driver appeared to have accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake when trying to reverse park, pinning the woman to a fence and knocking a 62-year-old man to the ground.

The injured man and woman were both taken to St George Hospital. The woman, who is in a critical condition, suffered head and leg injuries, while the man suffered a head injury.

The couple was standing next to a motorbike and had not long arrived at the courts to watch their grandchild play netball.

Off-duty paramedic Stephanie Wise told Fairfax Media that about 10 men had rushed to move the car and free the woman.

“Then they all kind of lifted this relatively big four-wheel-drive, and pushed it a metre,” she said. “And then kind of pulled her out of the fence.”

Chief Inspector Gary Ford of the Sutherland Shire Police Area Command told the ABC it was lucky there was fence around the ground as there had been a lot of children playing in the area.

“There was a number of kids here at the time playing netball,” Chief Inspector Ford said.

“There was people everywhere. Luckily the fencing in place was able to save any injury to any children.”

Sutherland Shire Netball Association president Karen Salter said all games were immediately cancelled after the accident.