Advertisement
Advertisement
A 17-year-old Australian cricketer, Ben Austin, lost his life after being hit on the neck by a ball during a training session in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Following the incident at Ferntree Gully in Melbourne’s outer east, where he was practising facing balls thrown by a sidearm, Austin was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He was placed on life support, but died on Thursday morning.
The 17-year-old was wearing a helmet; however, it was without a stem guard.
After a devastating incident, his father, Jacer Austin, expressed sorrow in a statement.
“We are utterly devastated by the passing of our beautiful Ben, who died earlier on Thursday morning,” he said.
“For Tracey and I, Ben was an adored son, deeply loved brother to Cooper and Zach and a shining light in the lives of our family and friends.”
“This tragedy has taken Ben from us, but we find some comfort that he was doing something he did for so many summers – going down to the nets with mates to play cricket. He loved cricket and it was one of the joys of his life,” he explained.
“We would also like to support his team-mate who was bowling in the nets – this accident has impacted two young men and our thoughts are with he and his family as well.”
Meanwhile, Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket Victoria have expressed grief over the incident and provided assistance to the family.
“The tragic circumstances of Ben and Ferntree Gully are…going to be felt across the country,” CA chair Mike Baird told reporters.
“Cricket is a sport that brings people together, communities together. It’s also one that feels very deeply an incident such as we’ve seen.
“[It’s] hard to put words on it. What we want to say is that we are doing everything we can to support the family, the club, and all those impacted by this tragic news. Clearly, there are things that we have to learn from this, but right now, we are concerned about the family and trying to support them in every way,” he said.
For the unversed, 11 years ago, Australia’s emerging cricketer Phil Hughes death due to a similar incident caused shockwaves across the cricketing world.
Phil, who was 25, was struck on the neck by a Sean Abbott bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match in Sydney and died two days later due to a rare brain bleed.
Phil Hughes passing caused the sport to look at safety gear differently, leading to the creation of the stem guard, an extra safety-padded extension that protects the back of the head and neck.
READ: Mujeeb, Azmatullah power Afghanistan to victory over Zimbabwe
