TOPIC:

ph...regardless of the aim of bowling a bouncer and I understand what you're saying, the end result is that you have a very hard ball travelling at high speed towards a batsman's head...that can't be good for any one. it used to be there was an unwritten code about not bowling bouncers at tail enders...well that's gone out the window these days. pitch something head high in baseball to stop a hitter owning the plate and you'll see both benches cleared in no time...it's not on. lift the ball in hockey to head height and you'll get penalised by the umpires..go anywhere near the head in a physical contact sport like AFL and you can expect a nice long holiday...why is it accepted in cricket.

It's the slight element of fear that made me want to play cricket and be a batsmen in the first place.

We all know what we are doing when we make the decision to play.

It's the same with footy. Sometimes standing underneath a high ball with opponents closing in from all directions is scary.

As it turns out, this injury by all accounts is extremely rare. The ball struck his neck and ruptured a major artery which caused internal bleeding.

To be honest, I'd rather cars were somehow made safer. People die everyday just getting from A to B on the roads. an everyday occurrence that we just take for granted.

BC, read the article in todays paper written by Boycott. he claims since the inception of helmets batters now have no fear.....I think he even talks about tail enders now going and batting like millionaires, pulling everything they can to cow corner, hence why the gentleman's rule of not bouncing the tail has gone out of the game.

I hear what your saying, but similar to the AFL earlier this year when they were changing tribunal rulings on the run, you cant change rules for isolated incidents, or for fear of litigation.

As La Hincha says it was the element of fear that made me play also. I was an opening batter who regularly faced bouncers, and i'm old enough to be retired now, I played in an era without helmets (never wore one) was never hit in the head, why is that, because of the fear of playing some shots,

I guess this is one topic we wont agree on hey????? no issues your entitled to your opinion and your putting a fair point of view across

La Hincha wrote: It's the slight element of fear that made me want to play cricket and be a batsmen in the first place.

We all know what we are doing when we make the decision to play.

It's the same with footy. Sometimes standing underneath a high ball with opponents closing in from all directions is scary.

As it turns out, this injury by all accounts is extremely rare. The ball struck his neck and ruptured a major artery which caused internal bleeding.

To be honest, I'd rather cars were somehow made safer. People die everyday just getting from A to B on the roads. an everyday occurrence that we just take for granted.

Just remember we used to think it was fine to have cars with no seat belt as well, theres always room for improvement.

No it should not be banned. Why are some people comparing cricket and baseball? In baseball the batsman does not move, hence the no beamer rule in the sport. In cricket, moving is a part of batsmanship as I have pointed on the other thread.

I played plenty of high grade cricket and some old foes and I were talking last night about how many blokes we hit in the head over the years. We have had blokes hit and fall unconcious on to their wicket and then they would play next week. Maybe we were all lucky nothing really serious happened.
What happened with Hughes is a freak accident, there would be thousands upon thousands of blokes which have been hit in the identical spot over the years and all has been fine. And it is not as if Abbott is quick, he is medium fast at best.
Freak accident and thats all it is.
As for banning the bouncer well I am for that as long as the pitches are prepared covered in green grass and full of moisture.
Would the people advocating removing the bouncer compromise on playing on green tops so the bowler still has a place in the sport or should we just put bowling machines at each end?
The batsmans head has ample protection now and if they wish to wear more around the neck now then they are free to do so.
As it is now the batsman play on highways where the ball doesn't swing, seam or generally bounce. How much easier do they want it.
We saw in Perth just how sub standard modern batsman are in Perth, as soon as the ball moves at all they have not got a clue.
The bouncer has already been cut back over the years to a ridiculous point.
Ban the bouncer and basically with the current wickets prepared around the world there would never be a result in a match and it would be the most boring contest ever.
The stupid comparison with baseball makes no sense, frowned upon it maybe but it still does not stop it happening.
Get out of the way or hit the ball.
We just had a tragic accident. It needs to be left as exactly what it is.

gws...the baseball comment was just an example highlighting the fact that no other sport I can think of allows high speed projectiles to be aimed at the head...it wasn't a comparison of the two sports as there's no point in doing that.

Writing it off simply as an accident is complete Bull, there was a time when car crashes were always referred to as accidents, they stopped that because as anyone in OHS knows there is no such thing as an accident; every single incident has a cause and affect, the days off everyone just shrugging their shoulders walking away and simply saying oh well just bad luck when someone dies in their workplace ( and that is what this was - he was getting paid ) or even elsewhere are long long gone.

Theres a cause/reason and responsiblity that needs to be taken for every death, things to be learnt and improvements to be made, primarily so that it does not happen again.

BC wrote: gws...the baseball comment was just an example highlighting the fact that no other sport I can think of allows high speed projectiles to be aimed at the head...it wasn't a comparison of the two sports as there's no point in doing that.

Exactly - thats the issue, saying its all fine as you can move is rubbish, you can move around a hell of a lot more in Field Hockey, yet the rule is firm, no hitting the ball at head height.

Bazza wrote: Writing it off simply as an accident is complete Bull, there was a time when car crashes were always referred to as accidents, they stopped that because as anyone in OHS knows there is no such thing as an accident; every single incident has a cause and affect, the days off everyone just shrugging their shoulders walking away and simply saying oh well just bad luck when someone dies in their workplace ( and that is what this was - he was getting paid ) or even elsewhere are long long gone.

Theres a cause/reason and responsiblity that needs to be taken for every death, things to be learnt and improvements to be made, primarily so that it does not happen again.

This is the first time this type of injury has happened in cricket, get your maths book out and work out how many games of cricket at all levels over a hundred plus years yeah nah its not complete bull, it was an accident.