Losing sight of what's going on!

Coach’s jaw broken during ’throw down’ training.

Brett Stubbs.

Hobart Mercury.

Wednesday, 17 January 2018.

PTG 2320-11723.

Gary Kirsten, the coach of the Big Bash League’s Hobart Hurricanes, had his jaw broken, teeth chipped and a cut lip when he was hit in the face by a full-blooded drive from batsman D’Arcy Short during throw downs in a training session last Saturday.  Despite the extent of the damage Kirsten, 50, thinks he got off lightly given the circumstances and that in future he will wear head protection during thrown down sessions.

“It was a bit scary actually”, said Kirsten.  "I knew it was coming subconsciously because these guys are hitting the ball so hard and I wasn’t aware enough to think that might happen to me one day.  But it was also the circumstances — indoor nets with a white background with a white ball and I just didn’t pick the ball up at all.  It was a good learning experience for me, although I have broken my jaw I have got away fairly lightly with how hard the ball was hit”.

Meat is off the menu for Kirsten, who is restricted to soft foods such as pasta, and he will also most likely undergo root canal surgery.  “It is a good lesson for all coaches”, he said.  “In T20 cricket now the guys have started to use helmets but I have always thought I have been quite good with a baseball mitt and seeing the ball but there is no guarantee anymore”.

BBC Sport 21/11/17

Why would Bairstow 'bump heads' with someone?

Strauss said he had "no idea" why Bairstow, 28, would make such a gesture.

"It's something he does with his rugby mates," said former England captain Strauss.

"It was a jest, a joke. It's just a little bump of heads. It's not a headbutt. I don't think it's been reported accurately.

"When people mention a headbutt, there's a connotation around aggression, malicious behaviour, intent to hurt. It was anything but this.

"He was completely baffled, surprised and shocked that this was a massive issue."

Strauss said Bairstow, who made nine and 42 at the Gabba, was "embarrassed and shocked".

"He's pretty contrite right now. He understands that it wasn't the most sensible thing for him to," Strauss said.

"As we've seen from the way Cameron Bancroft has reacted, there was no offence taken.

"It's a minor issue but it highlights the fact that minor issues can become major issues."

Batsman again withdrawn following concussion concerns.

PTG Editor

Tuesday, 21 November 2017.

PTG 2307-11659.

Victorian teenager Will Pucovski has again suffered concussion during a match and has been ruled out of taking any further part in the on-going state second XI match against Tasmania in Melbourne.  Pucovski was struck on the helmet while batting on the first day of the match on Monday by fast bowler Nick Buchanan after facing 20 balls. He was able to walk to the boundary where he was assesed by the paramedics at the ground, after which he was withdrawn from the match.

Cricket Victoria doctor Trefor James said: "Will Pucovski has been ruled out of the remainder of the match and we will continue to monitor him over the coming days, and we can then determine a return to play plan for him”.  He was replaced in the Victorian XI by Essendon Cricket Club batsman Aaron Ayre

Pucovski's latest blow follows an unfortunate history of heavy head knocks for he was also struck on the helmet while batting in Victoria's Cricket Australia one day match against Queensland in Sydney early last month.  He returned to the crease later in that innings after passing initial concussion testing but faced only three balls before he was bowled.  Further monitoring and secondary testing showed he displayed symptoms and he was diagnosed with concussion. 

The nineteen-year-old received multiple head knocks during his teenage years and was again concussed in February when he was struck in the head while fielding during his Sheffield Shield first class debut (PTG 2059-10424, 25 February 2017).  He took no further part in that  match and was unable to play for the remainder of the 2016-17 season as doctors advised that he undertake minimal physical activity.

Further blows followed on his return to cricket. He was hit while batting at training, struck by an errant ball hit from an adjoining practice net, and once even cracked his head on a door at his Hampton home.  He has attributed his repeated episodes of significant head trauma as "dumb luck, to a large extent" but has added that medical experts have told him he carries a certain predisposition to concussive injury because of his unfortunate history.

Helmet manufacturer ‘Masuri' calls for neck guard regulation.

Andrew Wu.

Fairfax Media.

Thursday, 16 November 2017.

PTG 2303-11631.

Cricket Australia's (CA) official helmet supplier has called for greater regulation of the neck guard market as it believes players at all levels are at risk of serious injury unless minimum standards are introduced.  Helmet manufacturer ‘Masuri' is lobbying for the introduction of independent testing for the protective equipment, which has been used by some players since the death of Phillip Hughes in 2014.  The company is concerned consumers may not be receiving the protection they believe they are getting as there are no independent standards in place.

A cricket working party, which included CA, the England and New Zealand boards, the International Cricket Council and leading manufacturers, was set up last December in regards to neck guards but no agreement has been reached on the standards required.  It is understood suppliers have been unable to agree if the aim of the equipment is to deflect or protect. The rarity of the freak injury that caused Hughes' death is also believed to have clouded views on what that standard should be.

An independent review into Hughes' death, conducted by Melbourne barrister David Curtain QC last year, found there was "limited scientific evidence that current neck guards will prevent a similar tragedy and they must be properly evaluated before they are mandated” (PTG 1825-9124, 12 May 2016).  CA, which is being represented on the working party by its sports science and sports medicine manager Alex Kountouris, is in favour of a minimum standard being set.  ‘Masuri', which is also on the party, had believed minimum requirements would be set by April and is now calling for urgent action.

Masuri's chief executive Sam Miller said: "How we've got to November and not had any form of compromise, I struggle to understand why it's been made so complicated.  What I would like to see is a minimum standard so consumers have protection, the phase two and three is developing that standard and learning more”.  ‘Masuri', whose neck guards retail for $A90 (£UK52), about twice the cost of its competitors, says there is a risk there are products on the market that "aren't fit for purpose".

Miller believes the "bigger risk is there are people who go to reputable outlets to buy a product assume independent regulation is happening. "If there isn't independent regulation then there is a risk."

Helmet provider ‘Ayrtek', which is on the cricket working party, supported the introduction of minimum safety standards.  "By having an industry standard it means a certain amount of due diligence should be carried out before a product is marketed”, said Ayrtek's Tom Milsom.  "Which from my perspective as a sports equipment designer is very important when providing something intended to offer a level of protection to the end user”.

The ‘Gunn and Moore’ (GM) company said they supported minimum standards but it would take time.  "There are, however, means for manufacturers to test their neck guards, which GM has done”, said its managing director Peter Wright. "There is no doubt some neck guards are not fit for purpose as they are unlikely to do what they are supposed to do”.  Comment has also been sought from other companies involved in the working party.

Why the call to abandon North Sydney game was weak.

Will Swanton.

The Australian.

Tuesday, 17 October 2017.

PTG 2277-11519.

It’s going to be a long and laborious summer if umpires start calling stumps whenever a fast bowler does what he is paid to do: stick it up ’em. Protect the batsmen? Victoria’s Seb Gotch and Blake Thomson were ruggedly and expertly navigating their way through an unbroken 42-run partnership when the umpires at North Sydney Oval cried, stop! You might get hurt! The decision was extraordinarily frustrating because it was so unbelievably soft (PTG 2277-11518 above). 

We haven’t forgotten Phillip Hughes. We’ve seen and been saddened by the worst-case scenario from a blow to the head; we’re still sickened by the memory of Hughes receiving the great unplayable one on 63 no at the Sydney Cricket Ground.  But let’s do what Hughes used to do and call a spade a spade: the sport has been largely unchanged by the incident. Batsmen have kept on batting. Fast bowlers have kept on trying to intimidate them. Crowds still bay for blood.

The quicks use throat balls. Head-hunters. Whatever you want to call them. They tell batsmen they’re piss-weak if they flinch. They unashamedly make the most of conditions on the rare occasions they receive a pitch with more green in it than a Test cap; a pitch with the sort of cracks they spied at North Sydney Oval on Sunday night. Post-Hughes, they’re just as eager to knock a few blocks off. It has always been this way, and it always will be. ­Hughes loved the rumble more than most.

Batsmen know their craft ain’t guaranteed to be easy when they waddle to a pitch, any pitch, wearing pads and guards to protect their legs, thighs, elbows, crown jewels, fingers, hands and head. If a paceman strikes him on the fingers, good. If he strikes him on the fingers with consecutive deliveries, even better. Peter Handscomb copped one on the shoulder from Mitchell Starc on Sunday night. Get that up ya! Sympathy was nil, as it should have been.

Surviving difficult spells on a variable track is the essence of high-quality batting. Physical courage is a core attribute. Gotch and Thomson were not a danger to themselves, they were proving themselves.

Only 26 overs had passed since NSW number eleven batsman Doug Bollinger, not a noted slayer of the bowling, made 30 from 34 balls on a pitch that was soon to be dismissed as unsafe. Extraordinary, because at no stage of the match did onlookers think, for even a split second, that the track was unfairly difficult let alone so dangerous that Gotch (25no) and Thomson (17no) had to be spared the horrors of facing another delivery.

It was hard work, ball-dominated, but Victoria were an innocuous 4/108 when the umpires staged their intervention. It was hardly a scoreline that read like a bloodbath when Gotch faced two deliveries from Sean Abbott that reared off a good length. They were brutal and exceptional deliveries, but far from unplayable.  The first struck high on Gotch’s bat. The second hit his fingers. And that, incredibly, was stumps as players milled around and the ground announcer abruptly declared, “Ladies and gentlemen, the match has been abandoned”.

Cricket Australia is investigating. So it should. Cricket NSW boss Andrew Jones quite rightly says heads should roll among officialdom (PTG 2276-11516, 16 October 2017). At the ground, it felt like a legitimate farce. A wicket had not fallen for 11 overs. The Vics had scored at four and a bit runs per over for 26 overs.  No players or coaches were ­allowed to do the normal routine of post-match press conferences, which meant there was no explanation from anyone in the middle or the know. No man of the match award was presented. Nothing.

It was a low-scoring game on a fast bowler’s paradise. Good. The Blues had scrambled to 144. There was mid-innings talk of “a hole in the pitch” but Victorian opener Matt Short (43 from 50 balls) had batted with aplomb. We couldn’t see “the hole in the pitch” after stumps because the strip was covered like it was a crime scene.  If we correctly read Gotch’s body language when the game was called off, he was absolutely disbelieving at being sent back to the pavilion before he was dismissed or had the chance to hit the winning runs.

The 24-year-old Gotch was midway through an innings against Starc, Cummins, Abbott and Bollinger that could have been the making of him on Sunday night. The view from the hill was this — instead of being saved by the umpires, he was robbed by them.