Fast bowlers rush to Abbott’s defence

MELBOURNE: As the global cricket community prays for Australia cricketer Phillip Hughes’ recovery from a severe head injury, fast bowlers rushed to the defence of Sean Abbott, whose short-pitched ball struck the batsman and left him fighting for his life.

Abbott and his New South Wales team-mates received counselling on Wednesday, while Hughes lay in an induced coma at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney after having surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.

Abbott had been one of the first to rush to Hughes’ aid at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday, cradling the 25-year-old before he was rushed to hospital by ambulance.

“It says a lot about Sean, doesn’t it?” Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland told reporters on Wednesday. “Sean will have all the support he needs around him.

“I’m sure his team-mates and everyone don’t feel in any way ill of him for what happened ... It’s a freak, freak incident that’s happened.”

Fast-bowling all-rounder Abbott celebrated a personal milestone last month when he was picked for his debut international, a Twenty20 match against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.

He played another two T20s and made his One-day International debut against Pakistan, raising his hopes of a dream spot in Australia’s squad for the World Cup, cricket’s quadrennial showpiece which will be held in February and March.

Though Abbott’s best years may lie ahead, he will inevitably be recorded as the bowler whose delivery put Hughes in hospital, much as England paceman David Lawrence is remembered for hitting West Indies batsman Phil Simmons in the head in 1988.

“It’s a serious effect, no bowler wants to be in that situation,” Brian Lara, the West Indies batting great, said in Sydney of Abbott’s situation. “You want to go out there and give your full commitment and test the batsman in all different ways. “But that sort of result is not what you aim for. He will be devastated.”

West Indies batsman Simmons, now Ireland coach, made a full recovery after life-saving brain surgery and resumed his international career the following year.

The short ball, known in cricket parlance as a ‘bouncer’ or more graphically a ‘throat ball’ in Australia, is a celebrated part of the sport, defying cricket’s traditional image as a ‘gentleman’s game’ and stoking debate about ethics and sportsmanship.

England fast bowler Stuart Broad had his nose broken in two places when a ball from India’s Varun Aaron smashed through the visor on his helmet in August.

He said his ‘heart sank’ when he heard the news of Hughes’ injury, but he was also concerned for Abbott’s wellbeing. “You’ve got to feel sorry for the lad who bowled the bouncer but he can’t feel any guilt that he bowled a bouncer,” he told British media. “That’s part of a bowler’s armoury. He’s done nothing wrong.”—Reuters

Chatfield recalls 1975 blackout by Lever bouncer

MELBOURNE: Phillip Hughes’ fight for survival from a severe head injury has prompted a wave of sympathy across the globe, not least from former New Zealand cricketer Ewen Chatfield, who was nearly killed by a fast delivery in the 1970s.

Chatfield played 43 Tests, ending his international career in 1989, but his debut against England 14 years earlier remains memorable for all the wrong reasons.

A fast bowler and by his own admission, a typically hopeless number 11 batsman, 24-year-old Chatfield was facing England paceman Peter Lever, who fired a short-pitched ball that cannoned off his glove and into his temple.

“I just went to the side of the wicket and sat down and then I don’t remember anything after that until I woke in the ambulance on the way to the hospital,” Chatfield, now 64, said on Wednesday.

After collapsing unconscious, Chatfield twitched and moaned before help arrived in the form of England physiotherapist Bernard Thomas, who had been in the stands but bolted onto the field when he heard players yelling.

Chatfield had swallowed his tongue and his heart had stopped. With no medical equipment at the ground, Thomas administered CPR to revive him and likely kept him alive before an ambulance arrived to whisk him to hospital.

“If it hadn’t been for Bernard Thomas, the English team physiotherapist, I probably wouldn’t be speaking to you today,” said Chatfield, now a taxi driver in the New Zealand capital of Wellington.

“I suppose I must count myself lucky to be here but it was more traumatic for the players. Peter Lever, I understand, was very distraught about the whole thing and thought that he’d killed somebody and no bowler wants that resting over him.”

Ex-Indian skipper offers tale of hope

NEW DELHI: As the cricketing world anxiously awaits progress from Phillip Hughes, a tale of hope comes from a man who survived a similar accident — former India captain Nari Contractor.

Fifty-two years ago, Contractor was struck on the back of the head by a rising ball from West Indies fast bowler Charlie Griffith, during a practice match in Barbados.

Contractor, who was not wearing a helmet, was helped from the field but he started bleeding from his nose and ears and vomiting, before an emergency operation that saved his life.

The player was unconscious for six days and needed a further operation and blood transfusions, but he finally came round and, now aged 80, offered his best wishes to Hughes.

“I wish Hughes gets well soon, my prayers are with him,” Contractor, who vividly remembers that fateful day in 1962, told The Hindu newspaper.

“Those were days when there were no helmets, no restriction on the number of bouncers in an over and no restrictions on beamers either,” he said.

“The pitches were uncovered. But it was the same for everyone then and we were prepared for the challenge.

“I must thank fellow cricketers who donated blood for me, and the surgeon who conducted the emergency operation. I was in the operation theatre for a long time.”

After his accident, Contractor was unable to build on his 31-Test career and he handed the captaincy to Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.

Published in Dawn, November 27th , 2014