Cricketer Phil Hughes critical after being hit by ball

[denium]

Do they not have HD in Australia? It seems to skip in each vid in OP's post. How fast can the object thrown go?

RIP. Always sad to see athletes hurt.

Express fast bowlers bowl in excess of 144kmph (90mph)

A cricket ball weighs 5 1/2 ounces. I've had cracked ribs from being hit by a cricket ball bowled at a much, much lower speed. International cricket can be a dangerous game.

No blame should be attributed to the bowler here, a bouncer is part & parcel of the game & nobody aims to maim a batsman.

If you want to see how dangerous cricket used to be, check out this video of Michael Holding bowling to Brian Close. No helmets were worn then. Crazy stuff.

[BKM-2010]

Express fast bowlers bowl in excess of 144kmph (90mph)

A cricket ball weighs 5 1/2 ounces. I've had cracked ribs from being hit by a cricket ball bowled at a much, much lower speed. International cricket can be a dangerous game.

No blame should be attributed to the bowler here, a bouncer is part & parcel of the game & nobody aims to maim a batsman.

If you want to see how dangerous cricket used to be, check out this video of Michael Holding bowling to Brian Close. No helmets were worn then. Crazy stuff.

I don't know how anyone can watch that and think he's not trying to hurt the guy. Or does the thinking of 'he's only trying to hurt him slightly' make it okay because 'he's not trying to maim him'? And do I really need to be a long time fan of this sport to 'get' it?

[Uklad]

Cricket can really be a dangerous sport at times.

[denium]

I don't know how anyone can watch that and think he's not trying to hurt the guy. Or does the thinking of 'he's only trying to hurt him slightly' make it okay because 'he's not trying to maim him'? And do I really need to be a long time fan of this sport to 'get' it?

It was different in those days. Holding & the rest of the West Indies held a grudge against England, partly due to past colonisation & due to perceived arrogance by the English. Grovelgate was also an issue - http://www.cricketcountry.com/articl...d-grovel-13048

Nowadays bowlers are only allowed to bowl two bouncers an over & the batsman are so padded up that incidents like this are incredibly rare. In fact, people have said that more bouncers & short stuff should be allowed to make it a fairer contest between bat and ball.

Can't see that happening now though.

[Tom Cruise]

I don't know how anyone can watch that and think he's not trying to hurt the guy. Or does the thinking of 'he's only trying to hurt him slightly' make it okay because 'he's not trying to maim him'? And do I really need to be a long time fan of this sport to 'get' it?

In a way bouncers are supposed to hurt the other guy. The idea being you can get the batsman to make silly mistakes in the next few balls. The vast majority of the time padding and helmets protect the batsman from serious injury nowadays. Unfortunately Hughes was caught underneath his helmet as he pulled his head up to hit the ball.

RIP to Phil Hughes though Absolute tragedy.

I hope Abbot understands that it wasnt his fault, though im sure he naturally feels terrible right now.

[BKM-2010]

It was different in those days. Holding & the rest of the West Indies held a grudge against England, partly due to past colonisation & due to perceived arrogance by the English. Grovelgate was also an issue - http://www.cricketcountry.com/articl...d-grovel-13048

Nowadays bowlers are only allowed to bowl two bouncers an over & the batsman are so padded up that incidents like this are incredibly rare. In fact, people have said that more bouncers & short stuff should be allowed to make it a fairer contest between bat and ball.

Can't see that happening now though.

How about getting rid of the act of striking other players with the ball(the padding is irrelevant now as we have just witnessed with this tragedy) altogether and heavily penalizing it? I think it is a savage act in what I thought to be a decent sport. That's why I'm not gonna fellate Abbott like the rest of the sport's fans are doing now because if he didn't throw the ball towards Hughes this wouldn't have happened.

[Tom Cruise]

How about getting rid of the act of striking other players with the ball(the padding is irrelevant now as we have just witnessed with this tragedy) altogether and heavily penalizing it? I think it is a savage act in what I thought to be a decent sport. That's why I'm not gonna fellate Abbott like the rest of the sport's fans are doing now because if he didn't throw the ball towards Hughes this wouldn't have happened.

You cant criticise Abbot for doing something that every fast bowler in the sport does. Thats crazy.

Im sure Hughes has seen his teammates bowl dangerous bouncers at opposition batsmen before and congratulated them

Whether there is an argument to rid the sport of bouncers is a different question. It was never a part of the sport for many decades, but now is very much ingrained. Personally I'd like to see them in the game still. Improvements to headgear are a must now

[Uklad]

The bouncers aren't really meant to hurt the batsman, its a legitimate delivery and not many can bowl perfect bouncers, its to make them uncomfortable on the crease, its also a perfect delivery to get the batsman out most of the times, (caught behind,slips,caught and bold ,over the top catch to the fielder etc.).

[denium]

How about getting rid of the act of striking other players with the ball(the padding is irrelevant now as we have just witnessed with this tragedy) altogether and heavily penalizing it? I think it is a savage act in what I thought to be a decent sport. That's why I'm not gonna fellate Abbott like the rest of the sport's fans are doing now because if he didn't throw the ball towards Hughes this wouldn't have happened.

Hughes had a known weakness against the short ball. Abbott was just trying to get him out, not hurt him. Hughes was a brilliant domestic batsman who scored thousands of runs, this is professional sport, these guys play cricket for a living.

Phil Hughes would've wanted the game to continue how it is, not watered down.

[BKM-2010]

You cant criticise Abbot for doing something that every fast bowler in the sport does. Thats crazy.

Im sure Hughes has seen his teammates bowl dangerous bouncers at opposition batsmen before and congratulated them

Whether there is an argument to rid the sport of bouncers is a different question. It was never a part of the sport for many decades, but now is very much ingrained. Personally I'd like to see them in the game still. Improvements to headgear are a must now

Well he's part of the problem, it doesn't change the fact that this wouldn't have happened if this savage act was not a part of the sport. I can't understand how the higher ups do not try to imagine the worst case scenarios before they just let it go on because it's 'not meant to harm' or 'part of the drill'.

As for Abbott, at the end of the day he violently threw a hard ball at the back of another man's head and it was fatal. Something there just doesn't seem right that this can happen in a sport like this and something will have to change because of this tragedy, if they don't want it to happen again.