# Cricket - Phil Hughes



## Piece (Nov 25, 2014)

My best wishes go to him and his family. He got hit by a bouncer and collapsed. Now in hospital in a critical condition. . This is even with a batting helmet. Just goes to show if you get it in the wrong place...

All the years i played at a very good standard never wearing a helmet. Makes you think...


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## SaintHacker (Nov 25, 2014)

Horrible news to wake up to. Certainly makes you think, I usually wear one for batting but never when I'm keeping, I can't look up far enough when I'm crouched, although to be honest Jimmy Andersen would struggle to get any pace out of some of the puddings we play on! Best wishes to Phil for a speedy recovery.


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## fundy (Nov 25, 2014)

shocking news, fingers crossed he makes a full recovery.


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## Wabinez (Nov 25, 2014)

Sad news...but there has been many comments about helmets and whether they offer the full protection.  I guess, in the most, they do...but occasionally something will happen.  There have been at least 3 major incidents with head injuries in the past few months, so maybe a review is needed and better protection offered.  Kieswetter, Broad and now Hughes


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## richart (Nov 25, 2014)

Dreadful news. Good to see all the support he and his family have been getting.


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## Dan2501 (Nov 25, 2014)

Wabinez said:



			Sad news...but there has been many comments about helmets and whether they offer the full protection.  I guess, in the most, they do...but occasionally something will happen.  There have been at least 3 major incidents with head injuries in the past few months, so maybe a review is needed and better protection offered.  Kieswetter, Broad and now Hughes
		
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To be fair, Kieswetter and Broad's injuries were brought on themselves by not using the grill properly. The grill is set to a position so that ball can't fit through, they both lowered the grill, and as a result, both got clattered in the face. The protection is there, they just decided not to use it.

Terrible news about Phil Hughes. Hope he gets better soon and manages to get back playing.


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## Lord Tyrion (Nov 25, 2014)

I played cricket years ago at a time when helmets were just coming in. I bought one, a bad one, and I simply couldn't see through the grille so I understand why Broad and Kieswetter did what they did although helmets have improved since my day. The first time I went out to bat with the grille on I couldn't pick the ball up and played and missed 3 times, causing much swearing from the decidely quick bowler I was facing. I decided to ditch the helmet so that I could see, annoying the bowler even more as he thought I was suggesting he was not quick enough to warrant me wearing a helmet. Had to laugh, he was doing a full Merv Hughes, steam coming out everywhere.

Kids now grow up wearing helmets, it is compulsory at junior level, so they are much more comfortable wearing them. Good news. 

Like all others, I hope Hughes recovers quickly.


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## M1ke (Nov 25, 2014)

Poor guy, I feel for his family.


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## Karl102 (Nov 25, 2014)

He had to have mouth to mouth in the side of the pitch as he stopped breathing.... Very scary. I never used a helmet and thinking back it was pretty stupid. Viv never wore one. I wonder if he would if he were playing now?
I was a reasonably sharp quick bowler and you do get a fright when you hit someone.... I guess there is risk in every sport. I hope he has a speedy recovery...


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## chrisd (Nov 25, 2014)

I just hope that he makes a full recovery


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## HomerJSimpson (Nov 25, 2014)

It makes you admire Richards, Lloyd and all the others who never wore one but in the modern game with quicker pitches, the ball does seem to come through quicker and so there's less reaction time (that's an assumption btw). I hope he gets better and makes a full recovery


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## Slime (Nov 25, 2014)

Sad news and I wish him well, I just wish they wouldn't show it on telly!
I don't play cricket but ALWAYS wear a helmet when skiing or cycling ........................... why they're not compulsory I'll never know!


*Slime*.


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## patricks148 (Nov 25, 2014)

only thing i notice with helmets is guys just don't watch the ball, most instance of injury is when you see the batsman not watch the ball. they just showed a clip of Brian Close against the windies in the 70's... he watched the ball right up until he knew it was safe to turn the other way.


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## Captainron (Nov 25, 2014)

I sometimes used to go out with the intention of hitting a batsman on the torso, arm or head. I managed to hit a few and 3 even ended up in hospital (2 with broken cheek bones and the other an elbow) but never had them black out on the pitch like that. Always checked on them when they went down though. it was so competitive that any little edge you could gain was taken. So if you could rough up a top order batsman then the middle and lower order would usually back away or play more defensively.

I really do feel for Phil Hughes and his family. The bowler must also feel blooming awful though too. 

Hope he makes a full recovery.


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## sawtooth (Nov 25, 2014)

Captainron said:



*I sometimes used to go out with the intention of hitting a batsman on the torso, arm or head*. I managed to hit a few and *3 even ended up in hospital* (2 with broken cheek bones and the other an elbow) but never had them black out on the pitch like that. Always checked on them when they went down though. it was so competitive that any little edge you could gain was taken. So if you could rough up a top order batsman then the middle and lower order would usually back away or play more defensively.

*I really do feel for Phil Hughes and his family*. The bowler must also feel blooming awful though too. 

Hope he makes a full recovery.
		
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You checked on them after you broke their bones so thats alright then.


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## Captainron (Nov 26, 2014)

sawtooth said:



			You checked on them after you broke their bones so thats alright then. 

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Every single fast bowler will try and pin a batsman if he gets the chance. You see a weakness and you exploit it. If a batsman is poor off the back foot or looks a bit out of nick, you get it in short and try and rough them up. If I hit someone then of course I check if they're okay and sometimes they weren't. 

What would you have me do? Bowl nice half volleys for them to clobber to the boundary?


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## Imurg (Nov 26, 2014)

Let's not forget the bowler in this...obviously we all hope Hughes comes through but the bowler will have these mental scars for some time too.
I remember pre-eeason nets where our best batsman wanted practice against bouncers.
I obliged and gave him 20 short ones in a row....the last one smacked him right on the chin and he ended up needing stitches.
I felt physically sick for hours after


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## SaintHacker (Nov 26, 2014)

Captainron said:



			Every single fast bowler will try and pin a batsman if he gets the chance. You see a weakness and you exploit it. If a batsman is poor off the back foot or looks a bit out of nick, you get it in short and try and rough them up. If I hit someone then of course I check if they're okay and sometimes they weren't. 

What would you have me do? Bowl nice half volleys for them to clobber to the boundary?
		
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I agree. You know whats coming when you go out to face a quick so the onus is on the batsman not to get pinned and frustrate the bowler. And generally the more you hit them the more aggressive they're going to bowl. Once you've got them really angry you either end up with a shedload of runs and a new vocabulary of expletives, or a trip to A+E!
I've not seen the ball that hit Hughes (and I don't want to) but reading some of the reports it sounds like he tried to get out the way and it hit him under the back of the helmet. Horrible thing to happen but a freak accident.


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## Lord Tyrion (Nov 26, 2014)

SH - The news are not showing the clip but I have also heard he turned away from the ball and it hit him on the back of the head. In the pre-helmet days you would never have done that, hence why fewer players were hit on the head. You were always taught to watch the ball and self preservation emphasised that. People were occasionally caught but it was rare. Now players take greater risks, the scoop shot for example, turn their backs, Moeen Ali is bad for this, and so a clunk on the head occurs more often.

Praise for the old guys who hooked is well merited. The likes of Richards, Chappell, Derek Randall hooking Dennis Lillee in his pomp, total bottle.

I would also back the bowlers on here who have posted about trying to bounce a batsman. I was an opener and you go out there knowing the score. Personally I would just lean out of the way and bowlers would soon get bored once they knew that I a/ was not going to hook and b/ could handle the bouncer. It is part of the game and it is not sinister. Any different to a hard but fair tackle in rugby or football? You are looking to rough up, unnerve an opponent but only the real nutters want to do permanent damage and thankfully there are few of them.


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## Piece (Nov 26, 2014)

Hughes was hit in the left back neck region, as place that current helmets don't protect. You could put protection there, but it could be restrictive.

You never go out to deliberately hurt someone, only to 'rough them up' to test their technique. If someone can't hook or pull and is in the top order, you're going to drop a few short ones in as that's the best plan to get them out. If they get hit, you know pretty quickly whats serious and what isn't. More often or not it was broken fingers! Always a favourite of mine is seeing someone coming out to bat in trainers...he knows that we know that he knows he's getting 6 fast full ones!


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## PhilTheFragger (Nov 27, 2014)

Very sad news this morning
RIP Phillip Hughes


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## Stuart_C (Nov 27, 2014)

Tragic news, thoughts are with his family.

I cannot even begin to imagine how the bowler bowled the ball will be feeling today.

RIP Phill Hughes.


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## Liverpoolphil (Nov 27, 2014)

Very sad to hear he has passed away


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## SocketRocket (Nov 27, 2014)

Tragic, so sad!


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## Beezerk (Nov 27, 2014)

Terrible news, as already mentioned I feel sad for the bowler.
So is this the beginning of the end for the bouncer in cricket?


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## Foxholer (Nov 27, 2014)

Absolutely tragic!


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## golfsaint (Nov 27, 2014)

Very Tragic freak accident R.I.P Phil, and spare a thought for sean Abbot


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## Tongo (Nov 27, 2014)

Just tragic. As was said on a Hockey forum when a player died a while back: nobody expects to go out onto the field and not come back. 

Thoughts with the family and Sean Abbott.


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## Liverpoolphil (Nov 27, 2014)

Beezerk said:



			Terrible news, as already mentioned I feel sad for the bowler.
So is this the beginning of the end for the bouncer in cricket?
		
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I don't expect it to stop the bouncer but think the bowler will struggle now


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## Piece (Nov 27, 2014)

Gutted.

RIP number 408.


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## Wabinez (Nov 27, 2014)

Such sad news.


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## SaintHacker (Nov 27, 2014)

Dreadful news. Ans also spare a thought for the lad who bowled it. Listening to the reports this morning it was a freak accident to hit him where it did, but also extremely rare for a blow to that area to cause the damage it did.


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## pokerjoke (Nov 27, 2014)

Very sad news.
Our thoughts are with him and his family and the bowler.


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## patricks148 (Nov 27, 2014)

absolutely shocked this morning, thoughts are with his family.


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## Captainron (Nov 27, 2014)

Very sad news.


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## Wayman (Nov 27, 2014)

Sad news 

No doubt they will be redesigning the helmet

Feel sorry for the bowler also


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## AmandaJR (Nov 27, 2014)

Tragic news to wake up to - RIP. Terrible for the family and can't imagine how Sean Abbott is feeling - unbelievably sad.


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## sawtooth (Nov 27, 2014)

Wayman said:



			Sad news 

No doubt they will be redesigning the helmet

Feel sorry for the bowler also
		
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Only 25, very sad indeed. They should think about a rule redesign as well at least until new helmets are brought in.


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## HomerJSimpson (Nov 27, 2014)

Terrible news to wake up to. Feel for both the Hughes family and the bowler


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## Deleted member 18588 (Nov 27, 2014)

Wayman said:



			Sad news 

No doubt they will be redesigning the helmet

Feel sorry for the bowler also
		
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The difficulty is in designing a helmet that protects all areas of the head whilst, at the same time, is sufficiently comfortable to enable the batsman to wear it for potentially long periods.

No sport can ever be made 100% safe either by equipment or rule changes and there will, sadly, always be tragic accidents such as this.

My thoughts are with his family, friends and team-mates as well as Sean Abbott, the bowler.


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## road2ruin (Nov 27, 2014)

Terrible news and thoughts are very much with Phil's family, as has been mentioned no one really expects to step onto any sporting field/arena and not come back.

I hope that Sean Abbott is given full support by Cricket Australia as he's going to be in a very bad place at the moment. I went through something very similar although roles were reversed. I was batting against a very quick bowler, drove a ball straight back at him and with his follow through he never had time to get his hands in the way to stop the ball. Without going into detail it was pretty horrible and we had to get an air ambulance to get him rushed to a hospital with specialist support. He spent 5 days in a medically induced coma whilst they reduced the pressure on his brain and those days were the longest of my life.

I'm pleased to say that he made a full recovery however it could have been very different.


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## NorfolkShaun (Nov 27, 2014)

Very sad news to wake up to RIP Phillip. My thoughts are with his family

Also really feel for Abbott in this and as mentioned hope he is getting all the support he needs.


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## Dan2501 (Nov 27, 2014)

RIP Phil. Such sad news, a seriously talented cricketer taken away at such a young age. Have to feel for Sean Abbott too, god knows what he's going through atm. My thoughts go out to Phil's friends and family, as well as Sean Abbott's.


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## CheltenhamHacker (Nov 27, 2014)

sawtooth said:



			Only 25, very sad indeed. They should think about a rule redesign as well at least until new helmets are brought in.
		
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No rule will ever prevent tragedies like this unfortunately.


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## Piece (Nov 27, 2014)

road2ruin said:



			Terrible news and thoughts are very much with Phil's family, as has been mentioned no one really expects to step onto any sporting field/arena and not come back.

I hope that Sean Abbott is given full support by Cricket Australia as he's going to be in a very bad place at the moment. I went through something very similar although roles were reversed. I was batting against a very quick bowler, drove a ball straight back at him and with his follow through he never had time to get his hands in the way to stop the ball. Without going into detail it was pretty horrible and we had to get an air ambulance to get him rushed to a hospital with specialist support. He spent 5 days in a medically induced coma whilst they reduced the pressure on his brain and those days were the longest of my life.

I'm pleased to say that he made a full recovery however it could have been very different.
		
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Jeez.  Thanks for sharing.


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## Snelly (Nov 27, 2014)

Desperately sad.

There is only one previous instance of this specific injury happening in the history of cricket. Just a tragic accident and horrendous for all concerned.


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## Loz1607 (Nov 27, 2014)

Very Very sad.  

I Played a good standard of amateur cricket in my time with a few 80+mph bowlers in the league and never scared of getting in line and hooking or pulling, sometimes without a lid.  Brings it home as to how it could have happened to anyone I played with and against at some point.

Apparently the type of bleed has only been reported 100 times so a very rare occurence despite very tragic.  I hope no knee jerk reactions will happen to changing the rules of bouncers, as I am sure even the Hughes friends and family wouldnt want to see the game changed as a result.  I think naturally people will think twice about bowling them in the short term anyhow.

Thoughts to the bowler Sean Abbott too as he apparently came through the same youth set up with Phil Hughes and from pictures and reports I have seen, he is as expected distrort.

I though Micheal Clarke showed incredible courage to face the media with his statement on behalf of the family, given that him and Hughes are best friends


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## Tongo (Nov 27, 2014)

Loz1607 said:



			Very Very sad.  

I Played a good standard of amateur cricket in my time with a few 80+mph bowlers in the league and never scared of getting in line and hooking or pulling, sometimes without a lid.  Brings it home as to how it could have happened to anyone I played with and against at some point.

Apparently the type of bleed has only been reported 100 times so a very rare occurence despite very tragic.  I hope no knee jerk reactions will happen to changing the rules of bouncers, as I am sure even the Hughes friends and family wouldnt want to see the game changed as a result.  I think naturally people will think twice about bowling them in the short term anyhow.

Thoughts to the bowler Sean Abbott too as he apparently came through the same youth set up with Phil Hughes and from pictures and reports I have seen, he is as expected distrort.

*I though Micheal Clarke showed incredible courage to face the media with his statement on behalf of the family, given that him and Hughes are best friends*

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Yep. As a skipper you expect to have to make tough decisions etc but nothing of that nature. Fair play to him.


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## fundy (Nov 27, 2014)

so sad, RIP Phil Hughes


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## Lord Tyrion (Nov 27, 2014)

You don't change rules because of one freak accident. Helmets are very good but I am sure they will look at tapes of the incident to see if anything can be done. However, you do need free range of movement, it is not like an F1 helmet, so you may have to put it down to just a freak incident. Very sad.


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## Loz1607 (Nov 27, 2014)

Captainron said:



			Every single fast bowler will try and pin a batsman if he gets the chance. You see a weakness and you exploit it. If a batsman is poor off the back foot or looks a bit out of nick, you get it in short and try and rough them up. If I hit someone then of course I check if they're okay and sometimes they weren't. 

What would you have me do? Bowl nice half volleys for them to clobber to the boundary?
		
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As a batsman, I would agree with you.  Use to love a good fast short ball contest, nothing better than rocking on to the back foot and knocking a quickie in front of square for 6 

I hope this type of contest isnt taken away as a result of this freak tradgedy


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## CMAC (Nov 27, 2014)

terribly sad that the sport he loved took his life. So young too. Theres no justice in life!!


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## chrisd (Nov 27, 2014)

No one should die playing cricket, it's a very sad day


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## Billysboots (Nov 27, 2014)

As a sports fan in general and former club league cricketer I have to say this is an extremely sad day. My heart goes out to all who knew Phil Hughes, and also to Sean Abbott, who must be in a truly dreadful place today.

I have to say I agree when I say I hope there is no knee jerk reaction and rule change as a result of this awful tragedy. I'm quite sure that Phil Hughes himself would not want to see the challenge between batsman and bowler tinkered with because of what appears to be a freak happening.

I always recall many years a go, as an opening bowler myself, digging one in short and hitting an opposition batsman a glancing blow on the head. He went down like a felled oak but fortunately was okay - merely dazed and grazed. In the worst piece of club captaincy I saw through all my playing days our skipper took me off at the conclusion of the over, and said batsman went on to score a ton.

Over a pint afterwards he told me I would have got his wicket with the next straight full delivery I bowled because he was that unnerved, but he was really angered that the battle between us had been stopped, not by one of us, but by a captain who failed to recognise the challenge between batter and bowler.

That's the nature of the sport, and one I'm sure Hughes himself would not want to see changing. It's the game he grew up loving and played at the highest level. A tragedy that it led to his death, but I'm sure he would not want to see the rules torn up as a result.


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## richart (Nov 28, 2014)

Dreadful news. I did think Shane Warne's comment that 'he was a really good man, one of the good guys', summed up Phillip Hughes perfectly.

Thoughts go out to his family and friends, and to Sean Abbott.


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## sawtooth (Nov 28, 2014)

Billysboots said:



			I always recall many years a go, as an opening bowler myself, digging one in short and hitting an opposition batsman a glancing blow on the head. He went down like a felled oak but fortunately was okay - merely dazed and grazed. In the worst piece of club captaincy I saw through all my playing days our skipper took me off at the conclusion of the over, and said batsman went on to score a ton.
		
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Why? Because he put the welfare of an opponent first? What if he kept you on and you hurled another one at his head and this time it seriously injured the batsman?

Sounds like a good decision to me.

Disclaimer: I have never played cricket on any serious level so if thats normal then so be it. From an outsider looking in, I dont get that side of the game. I thought the objective was to hit the stumps not the man.


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## Billysboots (Nov 28, 2014)

sawtooth said:



			Why? Because he put the welfare of an opponent first? What if he kept you on and you hurled another one at his head and this time it seriously injured the batsman?

Sounds like a good decision to me.

Disclaimer: I have never played cricket on any serious level so if thats normal then so be it. From an outsider looking in, I dont get that side of the game. I thought the objective was to hit the stumps not the man.
		
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But every batsmen accepts and understands that a bowler being hostile is part of the contest, the same as an aggressive batsman tries to spread a field that's crowding him by playing attacking shots. Close fielders are as likely to get hurt by surrounding the bat, but it's part of the contest.

In my scenario, that batsman was just as likely to have been injured by the bowler who replaced me. The fact is that by being hostile I had gained a position of advantage and our captain relinquished it two balls later. 

If only bowling was as simple as merely trying to hit the stumps. It isn't, and a degree of hostility is accepted, and indeed expected by batsmen, as being part and parcel of a good bowler's tactics. No bowler ever sets out to injure a batter, and similarly no batter sets out to injure a close fielder. But you can't completely eradicate the risk that injuries will occur.

Nobody I'm sure ever wants to get to the point where a bowler is obliged to serve up a juicy selection of half volleys and long hops for a batsman to despatch as he sees fit. It would cease to become a sport. And I'm quite sure that the challenge of bat versus ball is what attracted Phil Hughes to play at the highest level to begin with.

An absolute tragedy, and one which has upset me enormously. But I'm quite sure the last thing Hughes would have wanted would have been for his legacy to be a sport he himself would not have recognised as the ultimate challenge.


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## Tongo (Nov 27, 2015)

One year on from the sad passing of Phillip Hughes.


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## delc (Nov 27, 2015)

When I played cricket, I was a slow leg spin bowler, so very unlikely to kill a batsman!  There are other ways of getting them out. As a batsman I quite liked bouncers as you could often hook them for six.


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