Five nasty on-field collisions in cricket history

Moises Henriques and Rory Burns were involved in a horrific collision during a T20 game in England on Sunday. This incident reflected the dangerous side of cricket, where man-to-man contact can possibly lead to serious injuries. This comes in the light of the young cricketer, Ankit Keshri's death, a few months ago following an on-field collision during a club game. Nishad Pai Vaidya looks at five instances where fielders’ collisions resulted in injuries.   1.  1976: Jeff Thomson dislocates shoulder colliding with Alan Turner Jeff Thomson was one of the most feared fast bowlers in the 1970s. Tall and well-built, Thomson had an imposing presence, but on this occasion, he bore the brunt of a collision. When Australia played Pakistan in the first Test in 1976, Thomson was in good form and had taken two wickets. Zaheer Abbas then mistimed a shot and Thomson tan towards the leg-side to take his third-wicket. However, Turner was around and in his path when the two collided. That was the last Thomson bowled in the match as he dislocated his shoulder.   2.  1999: Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie’s horrible collision at Galle When Australia played Sri Lanka at Galle in a Test in 1999, Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie were involved in one of the most horrific on-field collisions in recent times. Mahela Jayawardene tried to hit one over the leg-side off Colin Miller. However, it went high in the air. Gillespie was running in from the deep, while Waugh left the inner ring to reach the ball. Both dived forward and Waugh’s face hit Gillespie’s leg. The pacer had to be sent home as his leg-fracture while Waugh suffered a broken nose.   3.  2002: Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble’s error in judgment India were closing in on victory against the West Indies in the second Test at Chennai in 2002. In an attempt to finish the game quickly, both Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly attempted to take a skier. Instead, they banged into each other head-on. While Kumble appeared to be fine, Ganguly was stretchered off the field. The Indian captain suffered a sore back and, fortunately, nothing more serious.   4.  2012: Brendon McCullum gives Kyle Mills a black eye On Yuvraj Singh’s comeback game in a One-Day International after his cancer battle, he was trying to help India to victory with a few big blows. On one occasion, he top-edged a pull, that went towards fine-leg. While Kyle Mills positioned himself under the ball, Brendon McCullum, with the gloves on, had run-across and smashed into Mills’s face. The catch went down, but the bigger concern was Mills, who sported a swelling below his eye.   5.  2015: Moises Henriques and Rory Burns’ collision stops a game During a T20 Blast game between Sussex and Surrey, Moises Henriques and Rory Burns went for a catch and hit each other. Henriques was running back, whereas Burns was coming in from the ropes when the two smashed into each other. Such was the severity of the incident that both players were taken to the hospital and the game was abandoned. Henriques had a broken jaw and Burns suffered head and facial injuries. The heartening thing through this episode was that Henriques waved as he was taken off the field, to assure his fans that he was fine despite the injury. (Nishad Pai Vaidya is a Mumbai-based cricket journalist and one of the youngest to cover the three major cricketing events — ICC World Cup, World T20 and under-19 World Cup. He tweets as @nishad_45) More from this writer: Adam Voges’s success at 35 is proof that selectors should not hold age factor against Ashish Nehra Alan Davidson: 11 facts to know about the Australian legend Chris Cairns: 11 facts one must know about the enigmatic New Zealand all-rounder