Robert Craddock on the sadness of Ben Austin’s death at the age of 17 in cricket nets accident
Cricket-related deaths are rare and take a huge toll on those close to them, writes Robert Craddock. And as we have been cruelly reminded this week, sometimes they make no sense.
Speculation over the make-up of Australia’s first Ashes Test team was building up to fever pitch — then, suddenly, everything seemed to vanish.
When the news came through early today that 17-year-old Ben Austin had died after being struck on the neck at net training it was as if other issues in cricket meant nothing.
Selections, board meetings, Sheffield Shield games...it momentarily felt as if they weren’t even happening as thoughts turned to this tragic event.
A young player had died simply batting in the nets — with a helmet on — after being struck in the neck as the late Phillip Hughes was 11 years ago.
The pain is accentuated by the sheer freakishness of it. Modern helmets, remodelled after Hughes death, generally do a better job at protecting the neck than they used to. But no form of cricket protection is flawless.
The grief was widespread and deep-seated.
Former Victorian keeper Darren Berry, who coached Ben at the Rowville Sports Academy, is said to be utterly heartbroken, understandable for no person in cricket has been flattened by so much grief to those close to them.
Berry, a king of the kids in his region who often randomly turns up to cricket games to watch his academy graduates, had a close association with the late Hughes when he was South Australian coach.
He was Shane Warne’s best mate. He was with David Hookes the day he died after being struck by a bouncer outside a hotel.
And now this.
The more we found out about Ben’s life the more he shone as the type of cricketer that cricket loves most — the one who played for the game’s sake and could not get enough of it.
He played for three different clubs and could occasionally bob up on Friday, Saturday and Sunday on one weekend.
Winter would see him swap codes and play for the Waverley Park Hawks under-17 team in the South Metro League.
He finished second in their best and fairest and was judged best player in the finals.
He won the sort of awards that makes parents bristle with pride, like when Ferntree Gully this year awarded him a perpetual trophy for the junior player who “showed the correct attitude and dedication to playing the game in the right spirit.’
His club welcomed the accolades and called him a “star cricketer, great leader and an awesome young man who is respected and liked by all team-mates.’’
The Hughes tragedy proved to cricket that it must take great care of those youngsters and officials who witnessed the tragedy.
The tears that flowed from former players during the minutes silence on the 10-year anniversary of Hughes death told of the eternal rawness of their emotions.
Cricket related deaths are rare and take a deep toll on those close to them.
Pace tearaway Jeff Thomson still talks solemnly about the death of his former flat-mate Martin Bedkober in a grade game in Brisbane after he was hit in the chest by a short ball 50 years ago.
“I was in the middle of a Test against the West Indies and Phil Ridings asked to see me for a minute,’’ Thomson once told this masthead.
“He told me the bad news and I was just shattered. Here was me, the fastest bowler in the world who had been hitting blokes since I was a kid and had never done anything like that and this poor bloke who was a wicketkeeper-batsman who had come up from Sydney and this happens.’’
Cricket’s saddest tales often make no sense at all.
Originally published as Robert Craddock on the sadness of Ben Austin’s death at the age of 17 in cricket nets accident
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