Phil Hughes incident: Ewen Chatfield recalls his brush with death on debut

It was a scary way to begin one’s Test career. In his very first Test, former New Zealand cricketer Ewen Chatfield had a brush with death when a bouncer from Peter Lever hit him on the temple at Auckland in 1975.

While Phil Hughes continues his fight for survival from a severe head injury, Chatfield recalled the 40 years old terrible incident from his Test debut.

“I just went to the side of the wicket and sat down and then I don’t remember anything after that until I woke in the ambulance on the way to the hospital,” Chatfield, now 64, said on Wednesday.

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After collapsing unconscious, Chatfield twitched and moaned before help arrived in the form of England physiotherapist Bernard Thomas, rushed onto the field.

Chatfield had swallowed his tongue and his heart had stopped. There was no medical equipment available at the ground and Thomas administered CPR to revive him before an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.

“If it hadn’t been for Bernard Thomas, the English team physiotherapist, I probably wouldn’t be speaking to you today,” said Chatfield, who is now a taxi driver in Wellington.

He spoke on how Lever, the bowler was distraught about the whole episode and his heart went out to Sean Abbott, the all-rounder, whose bouncer struck Hughes in the head and left him in an induced coma in St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney.

“He [Abbott] may never get over it. I hope he does. Obviously he’s a good player and you’d hate for his career to be cut off at a young age,” added Chatfield, who has played 43 Tests.