The death of an Australian Test cricketer Philip Huges, in a freak accident on the field raises once again questions on the safety of the players. Huges died of head injuries during a Sheffield Shield match. Though he was wearing a helmet but that couldn’t save him from the injury he received on the unprotected base of the skull from a bouncer and lost his life after two days in the hospital. Though such accidents are rare but cricket has seen tragedies earlier also. It reminds of Indian cricketer Raman Lamba’s death in 1998 while playing for a Bangladesh cricket club. He was doing a close fielding and was not wearing helmet as the over was to end with two balls left. Since the advent of body line series between England and Australia in 1932 head injuries have been a matter of concern for cricketers. The concern for safety gave the batsmen helmet which evolved in its modern form only few decades back. But such tragedies raise the mute question how much protective gear a player should wear in the field? Most of the Indian players wear helmet which covers the sensitive base of the skull where as Australian and other players wear helmet which does not cover the area. Huges was wearing a helmet which did not cover the base of the skull at the time of injury. There should be some form of check on using bodyline deliveries and the regulatory bodies should come out with restriction on the rising of the ball in any dangerous propositions. In fact the chances of life threatening injuries are much higher in body contact games like rugby, football, hockey where physical health of a player matters a lot for survival. One of the freakiest accident in sports arena took place was during the 1983 US Open when an errant Stefan Edberg serve hit a linesman resulting in his death. The point is such accidents though tragic but are not intentional. What is needed is to make sport safe for players.
