Sport lifts the human spirit in a way that virtually defies verbal definition.Hence, the respect and admiration that sportsmen and women are given in every corner of the globe.Yet, in many of these sporting endeavours, not often contemplated lurks the risk of catastrophic injury, even death.The world has been rudely awakened to that reality with the passing this week of the young Australian cricketer, left-handed opening batsman Mr Phillip Hughes, three days before his 26th birthday.
Hit on the neck, below the protective helmet, just below the back of his skull, as he attempted to hook a bouncer, Mr Hughes collapsed, was rushed to hospital and died later after brain surgery.Described by the experts as a "rare" and "freakish" occurrence, the cricket ball crushed Mr Hughes' vertebral artery, one of the main avenues to the brain, causing fatal damage.
The cricket world has been left stunned. Consternation does not only surround the death of the highly talented Mr Hughes, who in 2009 became the youngest person to score two centuries in a Test, erasing the record set by the legendary Jamaican Mr George Headley for the West Indies in February 1930.The global cricket fraternity is also left appalled by the terrible effect on young fast bowler Mr Sean Abbott, the man who bowled the fatal ball.
The rest of us can't even begin to imagine how he must feel. Even as our collective hearts go out to the family and friends of Mr Hughes as well as to Mr Abbott and those closest to him, thought must be given to how such a tragedy can be avoided in future.Inevitably, attention will go to how the helmet–worn by batsmen and close-in fielders–can be made safer.
Yet the anecdotal evidence suggests that batsmen are hit on the head much more often nowadays than used to be the case before protective helmets came into vogue in the late 1970s.This newspaper suspects this has to do with a false sense of security against the short ball, which has entered the batsman's art as a direct result of the protective helmet.
It seems to us that in the old days, batsmen–wearing at most a cap as headgear– intent on playing the hook shot would strive to get their body and head out of line with the ball, hitting as it passed over the shoulder.Very often, this old-fashioned hook stroke would end up at, or over, the fine leg boundary.Nowadays, the hook stroke seems to end up much more often with the ball going past the square leg umpire, through mid-wicket, or just behind square to the long leg boundary.
That, we believe, is the result of batsmen, wearing helmets, being much more inclined to play the hook/pull shot while standing square on to the oncoming bouncer, without swivelling as much as used to be the case.Even as the cricket fraternity grieves Mr Hughes' untimely death, it seems to us that cricket coaches must take a hard look at batting technique.
Jamaica Observer