I'm an Oz cricketer, get me to a hospital!

[sussexpob]

Good luck to the guy, let's hope he makes a full and speedy recovery from this.

Feel for Abbott too, it must be horrible to be the one who bowled the ball, but that's cricket.

Indeed. He'll be completely torn up about it.

Cricket Australia have apparently sent a few counsellors for the players involved, including Abbott who is quoted as being "shaken up" by the incident. Initial reports suggest that once Hughes took the blow, Abbott rushed up to his aid right away, which at least is a positive and shows no malicious intent was there. Its nice to see a few ex-Aussie players taking the opportunity to rally behind Abbott, he was just doing his job as best he could, and regardless of what happens as a result, that is the sport and everyone knows the risks, Phil accepted them and this is just an extremely unfortunate blameless incident.

I cant credit the Aussie media much though. I cant believe that even when its clear that Hughes is in deep trouble, the news report I watched for an update showed both the impact, the initial result, and then insisted on showing the aftermath quite graphically. Another apparently caused a storm by trying to gain hits by suggesting he was dead..... the media really have no shame, cant a man even fight for his life with dignity now!!

[SaintPowelly]

I saw the footage, and wish I hadn't, he got hit and then stayed on his feet for 5 or 6 seconds before falling flat on his face.

Hopefully he recovers from his injuries and will be out of his coma soon ( don't want it to be Schumacher all over again ), I'd be surprised if he ever plays cricket again, shame as I always rated him.

[shankycricket]

Dean Jones had apparently told a few journos that he was "clinically dead" for 20 mins and was revived later. Absolutely horrifying.

[Aidan11]

I've now seen the actual footage and it was truly awful to see.

[sussexpob]

I saw the footage, and wish I hadn't, he got hit and then stayed on his feet for 5 or 6 seconds before falling flat on his face

It wasn't that that really annoyed me, it was the insistence to show a bloke clearly fighting for his life being pushed rather unceremoniously on his side by a doctor trying to put him in a recovery position, and then showing who I think was Brad Haddin (I maybe wrong) tucking the poor blokes lifeless arm into his side as it was bouncing over the side of the stretcher. I find that bad taste in the extreme, give the guy some dignity and space PLEASE!!!

I remember when Muamba was in trouble.... thankfully as soon as the camera picked up he was in serious trouble, they stopped filming him and cut to the crowd out of respect....

[SaintPowelly]

I saw the footage, and wish I hadn't, he got hit and then stayed on his feet for 5 or 6 seconds before falling flat on his face

It wasn't that that really annoyed me, it was the insistence to show a bloke clearly fighting for his life being pushed rather unceremoniously on his side by a doctor trying to put him in a recovery position, and then showing who I think was Brad Haddin (I maybe wrong) tucking the poor blokes lifeless arm into his side as it was bouncing over the side of the stretcher. I find that bad taste in the extreme, give the guy some dignity and space PLEASE!!!

I remember when Muamba was in trouble.... thankfully as soon as the camera picked up he was in serious trouble, they stopped filming him and cut to the crowd out of respect....

I agree, luckily I didn't see all of that, but I did think watching him fall flat on his face like a heavyweight boxer or a drunk was uncomfortable.

[KipperJohn]

Other than the concern for poor Phil Hughes himself of course, what must be of considerable concern is the increasing number of times batsmen are hit on the helmet or grill these days. I've even seen catches claimed from it. There was plenty of 'hostile' bowling in the in the long post war period prior to the introduction of helmets, but I don't recall batsmen being hit on the head with such regularity - and that's only in international cricket.

Of course helmets are important but there must be a debate soon amongst coaches etc about players forgetting the golden rule of keeping their eye on the ball.

I've not seen this terrible tragedy, nor would I assume it's in any way related to the above point. Like everyone else I hope he makes a full recovery.

Whilst I am very shocked and saddened, I am bound to say that news of a serious injury isn't a surprise - I have raised this issue on CMS before.

[Making_Splinters]

Helmets have led to the increase of batsmen getting hit on the head. Back before helmets were introduced your primary responce was to get out of the way unless you were very confident of hitting it.

[sussexpob]

Helmets have led to the increase of batsmen getting hit on the head. Back before helmets were introduced your primary responce was to get out of the way unless you were very confident of hitting it.

Not so sure people think "I have a helmet, Ill take this one".... I think this is simply a co-incidence of a bad incident changing judgement of the issue.

I don't think you can make an argument that helmets are less safe them no helmets, so I think this is a non-starter discussion.

[Making_Splinters]

Helmets have led to the increase of batsmen getting hit on the head. Back before helmets were introduced your primary responce was to get out of the way unless you were very confident of hitting it.

Not so sure people think "I have a helmet, Ill take this one".... I think this is simply a co-incidence of a bad incident changing judgement of the issue.

I don't think you can make an argument that helmets are less safe them no helmets, so I think this is a non-starter discussion.

I didn't say that helmets reduce batsmen saftey, I said they make batsmen more likely to take on the short ball rather than getting out of the way.

[KipperJohn]

I think my point was clearly made. There's already an article about improving helmets on the BBC website. For me that's missing the issue - it is educating batsmen worldwide on the appropriate techniques.

[budgetmeansbudget]

Helmets have led to the increase of batsmen getting hit on the head. Back before helmets were introduced your primary responce was to get out of the way unless you were very confident of hitting it.

I tend to agree. I played in an era when no one wore a helmet in club cricket that I can remember. In fact if anyone had come into bat with one on they would have had the piss ripped out of them. The bowling was just as fearsome but I was always conscious of not getting hurt first and foremost and most head high bowling you ducked out of the way of. I remember getting hit on the head a few times but each was a glancing blow and didn't do any serious damage. In fact the worst injury that I ever witnessed was a wicket keeper getting hit in the mouth and losing most of his front teeth. I have no doubt that if I had gone out to bat in a helmet I would have taken on most of the short balls in the knowledge that the helmet would have saved me any serious pain.

By the look of today's injury Hughes appears to have been hit in the temple region where the skull is at its thinnest. Hoping they've operated in time to alleviate the swelling and he will recover slowly in the coming days with the minimum of damage.

[Making_Splinters]

We saw a similar thing when shoulder pads were first coming into age group rugby. Lots of lads wound up getting injured because they'd go in for bigger hits thinking the pads would protect them, we banned them at age group at the club I coach and we saw the number of injuries going down.

It's not a direct analogy with helmets in cricket as there is no question that helmets do protect players, but does serve to highlight the change in mentality that protection brings. In cricket it is more a change in instinct, when your not wearing a helmet your first instinct to get out of the way of a short ball and make damn sure you keep your eyes on it. As helmets have become common place that instinct dulls and you see a lot more batsmen ducking out of the way turning their head away from the ball. This year we've seen Kieswetter have his eye socket fractured, Broad have his face rearranged and Shazad have his skull fractured. None anywhere near to the tragedy that has happened in Australia with Hughes but a distinct trend.

If you look back the players facing the likes of Thommo and the Windies, they rarely went for the hook unless the ball was in the perfect position. Modern players tend to try and play the short ball rather than rocking out of the way.

[GarlicJam]

I think similar comparisons can be made with the advent of helmets in Gridiron, M_S, with players attacking with their heads and getting far more neck injuries.

I have absolutely no figures on this, just something I remember reading about years ago.

[Aidan11]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/30198194