Game of cricket is by far dangerous of all games and still the craze for the game is not diminishing all over the world. We saw how Phillip Hughes felled by a bouncer and died in the hospital during treatment and that created big stir in the cricketing circle. The game is becoming increasingly dangerous as power exerted by bowlers deliver cannon balls and the batsman has to decide whether to go for a short or duck underneath within a split of a second. Bowlers deliver thunderbolts and the batsman is at mercy of the pitch and the protective equipments they wear to face fire with fire. In the lead to attack the bowler, the batsman falls prey and gets injured. At times the injury is fatal and at times the bat came down the ball at right time to save it from hitting and the ball go past to the boundary as well.
The power generated from the modern day bats are too much and the ball speeds past the fielders and umpires in a split of a second. The umpires standing at the bowler’s end and at square leg run the risk of getting hit and hurt. Recently an Indian-origin umpire and former Israel Captain met Hughes fate during a league match. Just like batsman, the umpire does not have enough time to see the route of the ball as he is already looking at the impact of the ball and other basic things to follow. Thus the cricketing field is becoming a killer ground these days and care should be taken to protect the players and umpires to avoid such on field fatal injuries.
The game of cricket has become highly dangerous after every passing season as the pace bowlers strive for pace and steep bounce on fast tracks. All over the world we come across pace race won over since the inception of the game. From the body line series to the latest happening in Sheffield Shield Games, the pace bowlers bounce out batsmen with extra pace with the balls aimed above the rib cage and at times directing to the head. Despite having modern head gears, chest guard, arm guard, abdomen guard and pads the risk of facing genuine pace is regularly troubling batsmen all over the world. Australian cricket is rather tough and the players take it rather seriously from the County levels to press their claim to knock the highest level of the game. After Hughes’s death a memorial was built for him and it is a place of visit like the one of Don Bradman. In the ensuing test series Phillip Hughes was given the pride of place as the 13th man of the test team.
Hughes last innings score 63 not out will remain eked out in history of cricket in golden letters. The word tragedy gets used far too often in sport but this freak accident is now a real-life tragedy. Just shy of his 26th birthday, Phillip has been taken from us far too young. As a cricketer, Phillip was an incredibly talented and dearly loved member of the Australian, South Australian and Adelaide Strikers squads. He also played county cricket in England and IPL in India. Without doubt he was a rising star whose best cricket was still ahead of him. As a cricket community we mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to Phillip’s family, friends and team mates at this incredibly sad time, and of course to the Australian cricket family and the State Associations. We are thinking of you right now. The best part is that the broader cricket community around the country for the wonderful show of support given to Phillip and his family. From social media to phone calls to front desk, the support has been tremendous. Phillip Joel Hughes played 26 Test matches for his country. He will be sadly missed and forever remembered. His mortals will mix with famous Sydney Cricket Ground for ever.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
A person who was hit by a cricket ball on the temple on a Christmas Day in 1971 writes about Phil Hughes