Cricket Player's Death Highlights Sport's Dangers

With the world of cricket in shock after the death of an Australian player struck by a ball, organizers of the sport on Friday promised an investigation into safety measures, including the design of protective helmets. But they displayed little readiness to disrupt what one administrator called the game's "finely tuned balance between bat and ball." (Also read: A nation gets set to bid Hughes farewell)

In a remarkable display of remembrance on social media sites, cricket teams and players from Australia and Ireland, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan, to English country villages posted images of cricket bats and caps propped up in tribute to the player, Phillip Hughes. Within hours, the campaign, using the hashtag #putoutyourbats, had spread widely online. (Hughes' death brings old foes India, Australia closer)

Cricket executives, fans and players have been stunned by the death on Thursday of Hughes, 25, billed as a rising international star among Australian batters. He was hit during a domestic game in Sydney, Australia, Tuesday by a so-called bouncer - a short-pitched ball that reared up and struck him on the head as he turned to try to dodge it.

Even though Hughes was wearing a helmet, the blow ruptured an artery, causing bleeding to his brain, in what Australian organizers called a freakish accident. "The instinct to get out of the way of a bouncer is to turn away," said Nasser Hussain, a former England cricket captain. "This will send shock waves through every cricketer."

Cricket, which was brought around the world by British colonialists, is a global sport, and the impact of Hughes' death has been felt far beyond Australia. There has also been concern about the player who bowled the ball, the 22-year-old Sean Abbott.

"We're all feeling for Sean Abbott," said Jason Gillespie, a former bowler for Australia. "Who knows how he's going to go on from here?"

Bouncers are a familiar cricketing tactic, often used to intimidate players, to get them out by nicking the ball to fielders, or to simply prevent them from scoring runs. They routinely account for injuries, but fatalities are extremely rare. The sight of a player carried from the pitch while unconscious, never to revive, has scarred the sport, raising doubts about how soon it can return to a normal schedule.

Australia is set to host India next week, and sports organizers in both countries said on Friday that there was some doubt about whether that encounter would go ahead.

"Cricket will go on, and it will go on when we're ready," said James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket  Australia, the sport's governing body there. "To be honest, we haven't broached that subject with the players yet. We will in time, but to be honest, they've got other things on their minds."

"We will get there when we can," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Referring to his Australian counterparts, Sanjay Patel of the Board of Control for Cricket in India said: "We want them to first get over the trauma. After that, we can decide on the fate of the first test."

Hughes was said to have been wearing an older type of helmet, manufactured by a British company, Masuri, which has said a newer design gives "extra protection" in the area at the rear of the skull where he was struck.

In this computer generated image provided by Masuri Group Ltd, shows a cricket helmet with old and new profiles. The dotted blue and black line shows the profile of the new helmets brought out by the this manufacturer.

© AP

But an article in the London newspaper The Independent on Friday said the newest design "does not appear to offer much coverage to the area either." Cricket helmets mostly protect the dome of the skull, with a peak and grille protecting the face against a ball hitting the batter from the front.

"Hughes was desperately unlucky," The Independent said. "He had turned almost 180 degrees away from the direction of the ball" when it struck him.

On Friday, Sutherland said Hughes' death had been caused by "clearly a freak incident, but one freak incident is one freak incident too many, so that of course puts us in a position of looking into that."

"We will immediately, in consultation with the manufacturers and the other safety providers or regulators, look into it to make sure that these things are addressed and improved," he said, "and it's a matter of interest not just for us here in Australia, but for cricketers all over the world."

Sports commentators, players and organizers have reacted cautiously to calls for new rules about bouncers, which can reach speeds of around 90 mph and demand lightning reactions from batters facing them. While many in the sport accept that the tactic has inherent dangers, they also argue that it has been part of the game for decades.

Sutherland declined to elaborate on whether the rules would be changed to restrict bowling tactics.

"I think all of those things around safety need to be looked at and will be considered," he said, according to Reuters, "but one of the things about the game of cricket is that it is a finely tuned balance between bat and ball."

"That's what the game is built on, and those things will need to be very carefully considered, and I'm sure they will be in time," he said.

© 2014 New York Times News Service