The Official Cricket Thread

[A_S]

Phil Hughes collapsed after being hit on the side of the head (even wearing a helmet) trying to play a hook shot in a state game, as he is pushing to replace the injured Michael Clarke for the 1st Test in Brisbane next week. He was going well on 63 when it happened, he tried to stand for a second, then simply collapsed face first onto the pitch. Pretty hard to watch. Some are saying he might have been clinically dead once or twice, as he required CPR before being stretchered off and rushed to hospital. Given he was playing against his old team, it was a pretty distressing thing for all concerned, so play was called off immediately for the day. 

 

I hope he is ok. 

[Ian Sea]

Sounds horrible, I hope he's going to be alright.

[Spy Bee]

I hope he's okay. Not nice to see at all.

[Josef Svejk]

Induced coma after surgery. Jesus...

[Rico1304]

Our league introduced a mandatory helmet rule in the juniors about 10'years ago so all kids are used to wearing them so now it's only us old fuckers who don't wear them all the time. It was a great idea, none of the bowlers in our leagues are really quick enough to ping you a lot but it's the top edge that scares me.

[mouse1989]

Hopefully he will pull through. Sounds horrible

[Yozzer]

Awful stuff, hope the lad pulls through.

[lifetime fan]

Fuck. You never want to hear that.

 

Hope the lads going to be okay.

[Major Tom]

Really, really shit, that.

 

Hope he's ok.

[Jairzinho]

Our league introduced a mandatory helmet rule in the juniors about 10'years ago so all kids are used to wearing them so now it's only us old fuckers who don't wear them all the time. It was a great idea, none of the bowlers in our leagues are really quick enough to ping you a lot but it's the top edge that scares me.

 

Nor are the wickets usually hard enough, as you say, it's a top edge off a spinner most likely to hit you in the head. Keepers are in more danger than batsman in club cricket.

 

I used to field bat pad and had several whistle just over my head.

 

Dreadful news about Hughes. Hope he's alright.

[TheFridge]

Nasty stuff, just watched a couple of youtube video's of it, one news channel said he stopped breathing on the pitch and had to have mouth to mouth.

 

Good luck to him pulling through.

[TheFridge]

Our league introduced a mandatory helmet rule in the juniors about 10'years ago so all kids are used to wearing them so now it's only us old fuckers who don't wear them all the time. It was a great idea, none of the bowlers in our leagues are really quick enough to ping you a lot but it's the top edge that scares me.

 

Isn't that what happened to Boucher? top edge off the spinner wasn't it? fucked him up pretty bad although not on this level.

[Major Tom]

One of our players, Ewen Chatfield, got hit in the head by Peter Lever in the 70s. Chatfield recovered and had a good int'l career by NZ standards. Hopefully Hughes recovers and will be in the same boat.

 

Story here

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Hope the lad pulls through. 

[Jairzinho]

One of our players, Ewen Chatfield, got hit in the head by Peter Lever in the 70s. Chatfield recovered and had a good int'l career by NZ standards. Hopefully Hughes recovers and will be in the same boat.

 

Story here

 

Slightly unrelated but I know Peter's brother Colin quite well, also an excellent cricketer. He was the sort of Father figure of the club, ruling the roost over who would make it at the club, coaching bowlers stuff in two minutes that other coaches had tried to do in a whole season, etc. Could put the ball on a sixpence, even in his 60s, in the nets. When I was 13 I took a hat trick in probably one of my first games for a proper men's side and I remember him telling me after the game that he'd played for 50 years and taken two in two balls about 70 times in his career, but never a hat trick. I think his disgust outweighed his pride in a 13 year old at the club he loves doing something he never managed to do in his cricketing career.

 

Admittedly I'd never got Graeme Pollock out.

[Major Tom]

Slightly unrelated but I know Peter's brother Colin quite well, also an excellent cricketer. He was the sort of Father figure of the club, ruling the roost over who would make it at the club, coaching bowlers stuff in two minutes that other coaches had tried to do in a whole season, etc. Could put the ball on a sixpence, even in his 60s, in the nets. When I was 13 I took a hat trick in probably one of my first games for a proper men's side and I remember him telling me after the game that he'd played for 50 years and taken two in two balls about 70 times in his career, but never a hat trick. I think his disgust outweighed his pride in a 13 year old at the club he loves doing something he never managed to do in his cricketing career.

 

Admittedly I'd never got Graeme Pollock out.

 

Ha. Good story, that.

 

On a more slightly unrelated note; Graeme Pollock, what a player. I wish that SA side had gotten to strut their stuff in the 70s. Watching Pollock and Barry Richards up against the Aussies and Windies attacks of the day would have been something special.

[Jairzinho]

Ha. Good story, that.

 

On a more slightly unrelated note; Graeme Pollock, what a player. I wish that SA side had gotten to strut their stuff in the 70s. Watching Pollock and Barry Richards up against the Aussies and Windies attacks of the day would have been something special.

 

Think Pollock was my second pick in the cricket draft. Shame they (him and Richards) never got to prove their greatness over a full career. Pretty much everyone who ever saw them play were certain they would have done so.

[Spy Bee]

Isn't that what happened to Boucher? top edge off the spinner wasn't it? fucked him up pretty bad although not on this level.

It was a bail that hit Boucher in the eye.

 

The ball apparently missed Hughes helmet and hit him directly on the head.

[Hand Shandy]

Yep.

 

[Spy Bee]

I wonder if he had a pre-existing condition of some kind. The ball obviously hit him at a fair speed, but on a very solid part of the skull, and the extent of the damage seems extremely severe. There's a girl who lives near me who had an undiagnosed problem, that became very serious when she took a bang on the head. I'm clearly not a neuro surgeon, so forgive the lack of specific detail.

[Hand Shandy]

I've seen it on YouTube and looking at that picture it looks like the ball has struck right at the base bottom edge of his skull rather than on a solid bit. With the upward trajectory, and the fact it was traveling at a fair rate of knots, that could do some fair damage.

[Spy Bee]

Just seeing in Sky News that it hit where the brain stem is. Very unusual and difficult for the ball to hit the back of the neck in that way.

[Hand Shandy]

Yeah I was reading some of the stuff on the Guardian about helmet design, and basically there's very little that can be done to protect that area without seriously impinging the batsman's ability to turn their head, which in turn could cause other safety issues.

 

Basically, it's a one in a million and he's a seriously unlucky bastard.

[lifetime fan]

Well this month together in the lead up to the World Cup has started well.

[Jairzinho]

They've already got too many.