The forgotten dangers of the cricket ball

By Abeed Hassnat

We have all the protection… helmet, the box, the pads and the gloves… but we have forgotten how deaths were prevented by other cricketer’s deaths and how much we take for granted the safety of cricket.

Raman Lamba. Played 32 ODIs and 4 Tests for India and was aged 38 before he died after being hit by a cricket ball while fielding at short leg playing for the Bangladesh domestic team, Abahani Krira Chakra. It was a full powerful pull by Mohammad Aminul Islam and caught by the former Bangladesh cricket captain, Khaled Mashud. At first, it didn’t look serious but later he had brain haemorrhage and despite being kept by a life support machine, he died 23^rd February 1998. At this time normally, a helmet would be worn by a short leg fielder but it wasn’t made compulsory by the ICC.

Raman Lamba (1960-1998)

To be honest, no cricketer deserves to die but in sport, there will be tragedy and freak accidents. Without the deaths of Formula 1 drivers, the sport won’t be safe. In this same sort of instance, these deaths won’t go forgotten but proves that safety is paramount.

Increasing amount of people in the young generation have this idea though that they can be hitting a cricket ball will make you safe and playing defensive will make them safe. But this will continue to harm both their safety and knowledge of the dangers in cricket, and their chance to develop their skills to become a better cricketer. Some YouTube videos show them running into bowled balls or showing how to bat against a fast bowler without pads.

The cricketing boards don’t emphasise the need for safety. Some of these accidents might have been freak but some are due to the safety aspect that causes these unfortunate deaths. The need of this being promoted is getting increasingly needed as bowlers are beginning to bowl at more than 90mph and generation by generation, fast bowlers are getting faster and bats are getting more powerful as well. 
There needs to be a big emphasis in safety in order for the new generation of cricketers to face unfortunate and tragic consequences in still a dangerous sport today.