A reminder of cricket’s dangers

The tragic death of Phillip Hughes is a reminder of how dangerous cricket can be those whom the gods love, die young. This idiom came to mind on Thursday morning as Aussie batsman Phillip Hughes breathed his last in Sydney, devastating his family, friends and fans.

To say that cricket has come to a standstill because of Hughes’s demise would not be an exaggeration. The second day’s play in the Pakistan vs New Zealand Test in Sharjah was called off, and India’s tour match Down Under, scheduled to start on Friday, was jettisoned.

This is not the first instance in cricket where a batsman has died following an incident on the field. In fact, ten such deaths have been recorded, with the first one being a strange scorecard entry: ‘Abdul Aziz absent dead’ -from the Qaid-E-Azam Trophy final in Karachi in 1959.

Aziz was struck above the chest in the first innings and died while being taken to the hospital. To be sure, when a boy starts playing cricket on a makeshift pitch on the tar road, there is no fear of being hit. The pads may be improper, the abdomen guard could be absent, and an elbow guard or helmet would be unthinkable. Still, when bowlers charge in and hurl the red cherry, the batsman whacks it with joy.

What happened to Hughes was a freak accident, as he was struck on the back of his head by a Sean Abbott delivery in a Sheffield Shield match on Tuesday.

As one who played over 50 Tests and ODIs, Hughes had used the hook shot many times. Whether it was an error of judgment or the ball coming faster than he expected will be debated for a long time. Hughes’s death brings back into focus how unsafe cricket is.

They say time is a healer. In the case of Hughes’s departure from the crease, he leaves behind a nation in tears. All this three days before his 26th birthday.Despite these tragic events, fast bowlers will continue to use their big weapon, the short-pitched delivery. The grief is genuine and deserved - but the game has to go on.