Today 25.11.2025, at Guwahati, Stubbs attempted another slog sweep, was bowled and Bavuma immediately signalled the declaration. Stubbs missed out his century by six runs, South Africa have set India a mammoth target of 549! Down under, after the two day match at Perth, Gabba curator Dave Sandurski is set to prepare a pitch for the day-night second Ashes Test that will reward both batters and bowlers, just like in the recent Sheffield Shield clash. This day 11 years before occurred the sad incident at Sydney !!
Angus Mackay and Hugh McNally, built the Star Hotel in 1885 – and the town came to be named after them. Titled 'The Boy from Macksville', the documentary showcases Hughes' journey as a promising junior cricketer all the way to his entry into the Australian national team. Macksville is a small town on the Nambucca River in the Nambucca Valley, New South Wales, Australia. It's one of those statistical quirks that, at the time of his death, Phillip Hughes had scored precisely the same number of Test runs – 1,535 – as another prodigiously talented NSW-born batter on the rise, Steven Smith.
Hughes and Smith were both 25, though the former was just three days away from turning 26, and around six months older. On that fateful 25 November 2014, Hughes was hit in the neck by a bouncer from Sean Abbott, during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, causing a vertebral artery dissection that led to a subarachnoid hemorrhage. The Australian team doctor, Peter Brukner, noted that only 100 such dissections had ever been reported, with "only one [prior] case reported as a result of a cricket ball". Hughes was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, where he underwent surgery, was placed into an induced coma, and was in intensive care in a critical condition. He never regained consciousness, and died on 27 November 2014. He was just 25. years old when he passed away after being struck by a bouncer during a Playing for South Australia against New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Hughes was on 63 runs when a short-pitched delivery from Sean Abbott hit him on the neck.
Hughes, played 26 Tests, 25 ODIs and one T20I for Australia, lost his life three days before his 26th birthday.
Safety equipment in cricket have seen a generational shift in standards since Dennis Amiss wore a motorcycle helmet against the fearsome fast bowlers of 1970s, but the pioneering former England opener understands that rare fatalities such as the tragic death of Australian Phillip Hughes cannot be ruled out entirely. Amiss reshaped the game forever by wearing a rather heavy motorcycle helmet with a polycarbonate visor in the World Series Cricket staged between 1977 and 1979 in Australia. Some of the best fast bowlers of the time such as Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thompson, Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Colin Croft and Imran Khan played in the WSC.
When I faced Holding, I received 4 bouncers in an over and a beamer… the next over from him was the same – when he again said the beamer had slipped, I understood that this was a strategy to intimidate. Lloyd fearing his future as Captain finding us 98 for no loss was desperate and utterly frustrated. ……………. The carnage ensued .. in the pavilion, there was none to attend to Anshuman Gaekwad. Jamaican ticket authorities showed no regard for the seriousness of injury. The whole thing was sickening. Never have I seen such cold-blooded and indifferent behaviour of Cricket officials, and the spectators to put it mildly, were positively inhuman. – extracted from Sunil Gavaskar’s description of the carnage at Sabina Park. I have posted earlier on ‘worst injuries on Cricketing field’ - In his debut series, Sachin was injured and batted with blood and rose to eminence. There are very many other stories but a very harsh one was that of Contractor and the worst being that of Raman Lamba.
Nariman Jamshedji "Nari" Contractor , the left handed opener born in Godhra, had two ribs broken by Brian Statham at Lords in 1959. Contractor led India to a series win against England in 1961-62 and captained the side to West Indies the same season. There, in the match against Barbados, he was struck at the back of the skull by Griffith and was unconscious for six days, requiring a blood transfusion; his life was saved but his international career was abruptly ended.
As one could recall, Ahmed Shehzad, the Pak opener was hit on the helmet by a bouncer by Corey Anderson on the 2nd day of 1st Test against NZ at Abu dhabi – he was diagnosed with a minor skull fracture. The injury caused Shehzad so much pain that he dropped his bat on to the stumps as he wheeled away and collapsed to the ground. He was dismissed hit wicket, after scoring a career-best 176, and walked off the field holding his jaw.
Indians cannot forget how Clive Lloyd unleashed a torrent of fast, dangerous, short-pitched bowling on India, sent half their top-order to the hospital and caused captain Bishan Singh Bedi to 'surrender' the match. In that Series, after a hammering in the Barbados Test, Bedi’s men bounced back hard in the next two matches in Port of Spain. Gavaskar made 156 in the drawn second Test, giving India a 161-run lead. With their confidence high, India created history in the third Test chasing a historic 403 thanks to hundreds from Gavaskar and Viswanath and Mohinder’s 85. In that Jamaica Test, as Gavaskar describes – the Indian dressing room resembled ‘wounded soldiers’ room’. Gaekwad remained unattended for a while as manager Umrigar had accompanied Vishwanath. When Anshuman was transported, Brijesh Patel too accompanied with a mouth injury. Gavaskar called it 'Barbarism in Kingston'. First innings had to be declared at 306/6 ; in the 2nd Mohinder hit all over the body made 60 – Indian innings ended at 97 with Kirmani not out and 5 batsmen (Gaekwad, Vishwanath, Patel, Bedi and Chandrasekhar – absent hurt) – actually it was not a declaration but surrender.
At Chepauk in an isolated incident in Jan 1979 Herbert Chang, of Chinese origin, played his lonely test at Chepauk and was left bleeding in the mouth by a Karsan Ghavri bouncer. Sadly, Raman Lamba playing club cricket at Dhaka was hit on the forehead by a full blooded pull by Mehrab Hossain off left arm spinner Saifullah Khan while fielding at forward short leg, without a helmet. He suffered an internal hemorrhage and slipped into coma, eventually died after 3 days.
Perhaps what Contractor or Lamba were not fortunate enough - with three ambulances and a medical helicopter on standby for the match, Hughes was treated on the field immediately and was then taken to the boundary for further aid. He was then transferred to a St. Vincent's Hospital nearby.
Ben Hollioake was England’s golden boy in the late 1990s. Making his debut in 1997 at just 19, he dazzled with a flamboyant 63 against Australia in an ODI at Lord’s. His life and career were tragically cut short in March 2002, when he died in a car crash in Perth at just 24 years old. Ages ago, Chud Langton promising left-arm paceman, he played a single Test for South Africa against Australia in 1939, lost his life in the battle front in WWII. A steady left-arm spinner and lower-order batsman, Manjural Islam Rana of Bangladesh, became the youngest Test player to die when he passed away in a motorcycle accident in 2007 at just 22 years old.
Recently, a 17-year-old cricketer tragically passed away after he was struck by a cricket ball. Ben Austin was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition following the incident at Wally Tew Reserve in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne's southeast. The young cricketer was batting in the nets when the incident took place. He was understood to be wearing a helmet
Sad
25.11.2025
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