Published: Dec 04, 2017, 12:51 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 04, 2017, 12:51 PM (IST)
November 27th, is marked one of the darkest day in cricketing history with the death of Philip Hughes. Phil Hughes was hit in the neck by a bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott bouncer during a Sheffield Shield game between South Australia and New South Wales. After the incidents umpires are more cautious about head and neck injuries.
In the third over of the post-lunch session on Day-1 in the ongoing India-Sri Lanka Test match Sadeera Samarawickrama, who was fielding at short leg was hit on his helmet grill by Murli Vijay’s sweep shot. Although he seemed fine and continued to field umpire Nigel Llong went to Samarawickrama to have a word in the next over. The physio Nirmalan Dhanabalasingham was called up and Samarawickrama was taken off field after a brief observation.
“The umpires have been advised by the ICC to be vigilant and advice the players to consult doctors which are always available at the venues during matches. One of the requirements of international venues is to have proper medical facilities,” an ICC spokesman told cricbuzz.
Samarawickrama was taken to CT scan after being examined by the ground doctors. He was advised to rest for the remaining days play and make a call on availability on the start of Day 2. He complained of mild concussion before the start of the play today and was ruled out for the entire day by the doctors
India declared their first innings for 536 for 7 and with Samarawickrama unavailable Dilruwan Perera opened the batting with Dimuth Karunaratne. According to cricbuzz Samarawickrama would be examined again ahead of third days play and then a call would be made on his further part in the game.
Cricket Australia has added a separate chapter dedicated to Concussion and Head Trauma.
In Australian cricket a concussion substitute in Sheffield Shield and other cricket matches has been allowed. This new addition was done in September this year and came into effect from the current season.
This chapter restricts an Australian player to continue on the same day after being hit on head or neck. The evaluation of the player is done by medical experts in the next 24 hours.
