bobistheowl
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Phillip Hughes, a 25 year old Cricketer, was killed in an Australian Domestic Cricket match on Tuesday.
I first saw this on Wikipedia, in the "In the News" section of the Main page. They've changed the wording since I first saw it. Originally it said that he had died after being "struck by a bouncer.", and I guess I wasn't the only one who thought he had died in a bar fight, (not intended to be funny; a New Zealand player was seriously injured in such an incident recently).
In Cricket, a Bouncer is a ball that intentionally hits the ground well short of the batsman, so that, when it bounces up, it will be above the batsman's armpits, so near his shoulders, neck, and head.
In the incident on Tuesday, between South Australia and New South Wales, held in Sydney, Australia, Hughes was struck in the neck, below his helmet, with a fast delivery from Sean Abbott of New South Wales. He collapsed to the ground, and never regained consciousness. The match was not continued.
Bouncers are legal and common in Cricket, but illegal in the "T20" format, (a match in which each team gets a maximum of 120 balls to score as many runs as possible).
In the form of Cricket Hughes was playing on Tuesday, First Class, the match could last for as long as four days, with about seven hours play per day, and only one Bouncer out of every six balls is permitted. Both teams represented different States in Australia, and players on both teams might frequently play together on the International team.
Hughes played Internationally for Australia in both Test Cricket and One Day International, and had respectable averages for an opening batsman, in both forms. He would have been considered one of the top 15 batsmen in Australia, and the top seven would play on the International team. Maybe 4-5 guys would be automatic choices for the International team, and the remaining 2-3 spots would go to the other 10 or 11 elite players having the most success in Domestic cricket at the time the team is selected.
Hughes was in and out of the International Test team from 2009 to 2013, playing 26 Tests and 25 ODIs, which would be roughly 33-40% of the time. Test Cricket lasts up to five days, at 7-7½ hours per day, and an ODI lasts about eight hours, (maximum 300 balls received per team), including about 45 minutes of break after one team finishes batting.
In cricket, one team does all of their batting, and the other team 'chases' their score. Who bats first is determined by a coin toss, and the captain who wins the toss chooses 'bowl or bat', depending largely on the field conditions, and the weather forecast for the balance of the match. When games are played into the evening, things like dew from humidity are major factors in the 'bowl or bat' choice, particularly in games held in India and Bangladesh. No International games have been held in Pakistan for several years, because opposing teams don't want to go there; Pakistan plays most of their 'home' games in Persian Gulf countries, like Dubai or the United Arab Emirates.
At age 25, Hughes could have potentially played International Cricket for another ten years, or he may have never been selected again; he was sort of 'on the bubble', and his future performances in Domestic matches such as the one in which he died would have determined his future career path in the sport. Former International players, who have recognizable names, can make huge money playing in tournaments like the IPL, (Indian Premier League), or the Big Bash League in Australia. These tournaments usually last about 6-8 weeks, and are held at times when there are few, if any, International games on the schedule. They play International Cricket year round, in the summer in England, and in our winter in countries south of the equator. Certain parts of the year, (late September to mid November and March-April), usually have limited International schedules, so that's when they usually schedule the Domestic tournaments.
Cricket is a vicious game. A batsman often bats all day, or he's out on the first ball. If he exposes a weakness in any area of his game, such as not being able to defend a ball aimed at his ribs, (on a bounce), he will receive balls aimed at his ribs over and over, until he compensates for the weakness, or loses his place on the team.
In addition, both the ball and the playing surface are constantly deteriorating throughout the match. If an old ball is lost, (ie: someone hits it out of the stadium), they don't replace it with a new ball; they select a ball in approximately the same condition as the one that was lost. In Tests, the ball can be changed after 80 overs, (480 legal deliveries), at the discretion of the fielding team, but if they're having success with the old ball, they can keep using it. The new ball favours a fast bowler, because it has a pronounced seam in the middle. An old bowl favours the batting side, and spin bowlers, who bowl slow deliveries, with maximum unpredictability to the bounce trajectory.
Balls striking the ground hard open cracks in the ground, and batsmen running between the wickets to score runs also chew up the playing surface. In the later part of the Match, the bowlers delivering the ball will try to hit the cracks and chewed up spots, so that the trajectory of the ball after it bounces will be more and more unpredictable. The spin bowlers are usually most effective later in the match, when both the ball and the field are in their worst condition.
Ideally, the bowler wants to have the ball deviate about 1-3 degrees from the path the batsman is expecting, so when he thinks he's going to hit the ball with the middle of the bat, he actually just nicks it with the edge, which makes it a lot easier for the guys in the field, who aren't wearing gloves, to catch it, without breaking their hands. Only the wicket keeper, among fielders, is allowed to wear gloves, and he wears them on both hands, which makes it difficult for him to throw the ball.
If a guy is injured while batting, and can't continue, he's out, unless he can come back later. If he's injured on day 2 of a five day Test match, his team has to play one man short, for the balance of the match. Substitute fielders are allowed, but only for limited durations. Substitutes cannot bat, bowl, keep wicket, or accrue statistics, and if a guy is off the field for a specified length of time, he's not allowed to bat for an equivalent amount of time. If you maim a guy's leg, so he can't run anymore, he can still bat, but he has to look for opportunities where he can hit the ball to or over the boundary, to score four or six runs, and not have to run back and forth to get them.
By comparison, Cricket is to Baseball as Hockey is to Figure Skating.
I first saw this on Wikipedia, in the "In the News" section of the Main page. They've changed the wording since I first saw it. Originally it said that he had died after being "struck by a bouncer.", and I guess I wasn't the only one who thought he had died in a bar fight, (not intended to be funny; a New Zealand player was seriously injured in such an incident recently).
In Cricket, a Bouncer is a ball that intentionally hits the ground well short of the batsman, so that, when it bounces up, it will be above the batsman's armpits, so near his shoulders, neck, and head.
In the incident on Tuesday, between South Australia and New South Wales, held in Sydney, Australia, Hughes was struck in the neck, below his helmet, with a fast delivery from Sean Abbott of New South Wales. He collapsed to the ground, and never regained consciousness. The match was not continued.
Bouncers are legal and common in Cricket, but illegal in the "T20" format, (a match in which each team gets a maximum of 120 balls to score as many runs as possible).
In the form of Cricket Hughes was playing on Tuesday, First Class, the match could last for as long as four days, with about seven hours play per day, and only one Bouncer out of every six balls is permitted. Both teams represented different States in Australia, and players on both teams might frequently play together on the International team.
Hughes played Internationally for Australia in both Test Cricket and One Day International, and had respectable averages for an opening batsman, in both forms. He would have been considered one of the top 15 batsmen in Australia, and the top seven would play on the International team. Maybe 4-5 guys would be automatic choices for the International team, and the remaining 2-3 spots would go to the other 10 or 11 elite players having the most success in Domestic cricket at the time the team is selected.
Hughes was in and out of the International Test team from 2009 to 2013, playing 26 Tests and 25 ODIs, which would be roughly 33-40% of the time. Test Cricket lasts up to five days, at 7-7½ hours per day, and an ODI lasts about eight hours, (maximum 300 balls received per team), including about 45 minutes of break after one team finishes batting.
In cricket, one team does all of their batting, and the other team 'chases' their score. Who bats first is determined by a coin toss, and the captain who wins the toss chooses 'bowl or bat', depending largely on the field conditions, and the weather forecast for the balance of the match. When games are played into the evening, things like dew from humidity are major factors in the 'bowl or bat' choice, particularly in games held in India and Bangladesh. No International games have been held in Pakistan for several years, because opposing teams don't want to go there; Pakistan plays most of their 'home' games in Persian Gulf countries, like Dubai or the United Arab Emirates.
At age 25, Hughes could have potentially played International Cricket for another ten years, or he may have never been selected again; he was sort of 'on the bubble', and his future performances in Domestic matches such as the one in which he died would have determined his future career path in the sport. Former International players, who have recognizable names, can make huge money playing in tournaments like the IPL, (Indian Premier League), or the Big Bash League in Australia. These tournaments usually last about 6-8 weeks, and are held at times when there are few, if any, International games on the schedule. They play International Cricket year round, in the summer in England, and in our winter in countries south of the equator. Certain parts of the year, (late September to mid November and March-April), usually have limited International schedules, so that's when they usually schedule the Domestic tournaments.
Cricket is a vicious game. A batsman often bats all day, or he's out on the first ball. If he exposes a weakness in any area of his game, such as not being able to defend a ball aimed at his ribs, (on a bounce), he will receive balls aimed at his ribs over and over, until he compensates for the weakness, or loses his place on the team.
In addition, both the ball and the playing surface are constantly deteriorating throughout the match. If an old ball is lost, (ie: someone hits it out of the stadium), they don't replace it with a new ball; they select a ball in approximately the same condition as the one that was lost. In Tests, the ball can be changed after 80 overs, (480 legal deliveries), at the discretion of the fielding team, but if they're having success with the old ball, they can keep using it. The new ball favours a fast bowler, because it has a pronounced seam in the middle. An old bowl favours the batting side, and spin bowlers, who bowl slow deliveries, with maximum unpredictability to the bounce trajectory.
Balls striking the ground hard open cracks in the ground, and batsmen running between the wickets to score runs also chew up the playing surface. In the later part of the Match, the bowlers delivering the ball will try to hit the cracks and chewed up spots, so that the trajectory of the ball after it bounces will be more and more unpredictable. The spin bowlers are usually most effective later in the match, when both the ball and the field are in their worst condition.
Ideally, the bowler wants to have the ball deviate about 1-3 degrees from the path the batsman is expecting, so when he thinks he's going to hit the ball with the middle of the bat, he actually just nicks it with the edge, which makes it a lot easier for the guys in the field, who aren't wearing gloves, to catch it, without breaking their hands. Only the wicket keeper, among fielders, is allowed to wear gloves, and he wears them on both hands, which makes it difficult for him to throw the ball.
If a guy is injured while batting, and can't continue, he's out, unless he can come back later. If he's injured on day 2 of a five day Test match, his team has to play one man short, for the balance of the match. Substitute fielders are allowed, but only for limited durations. Substitutes cannot bat, bowl, keep wicket, or accrue statistics, and if a guy is off the field for a specified length of time, he's not allowed to bat for an equivalent amount of time. If you maim a guy's leg, so he can't run anymore, he can still bat, but he has to look for opportunities where he can hit the ball to or over the boundary, to score four or six runs, and not have to run back and forth to get them.
By comparison, Cricket is to Baseball as Hockey is to Figure Skating.
