Phillip Hughes: A year on from his death, is cricket any safer?

Changes are being made but concern lingers that they are taking too long

A memorial for Phillip Hughes (Getty Images)

Phillip Hughes hoped that South Australia’s first-class match with New South Wales on 25 November last year would help him earn a recall to the Australian Test side. “He was making a statement,” David Warner recounts in the batsman’s official biography. “He was going to go big. He was sick the night before, he was sick that morning, but he had to play because there was a Test around the corner.”

Though not at his fluent best as the New South Wales attack tested him with the short ball, Hughes passed 50 and had designs on recording his 27th first-class hundred in the week of his 26th birthday. On 63, he received a bouncer, which he shaped to hook, but Hughes was too early on the ball and it struck him on the back of the neck. Hughes staggered for a few seconds and then collapsed. He would never regain consciousness and, two days later, was pronounced dead.

In its shock the cricket world agreed that what happened to Hughes was a freakish one-off. In many respects it was: in medical history, only 100 cases of a neck injury causing haemorrhage in the brain, as happened to Hughes, had ever been reported, and only one other of those was on a cricket field.

Yet, a year on, some are concerned that the sport is still not being vigilant enough in ensuring the safety of players. “At international level, there has not been much advancement in helmet safety since Phil’s death,” says Tony Irish, the executive chairman of the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations.

Before Hughes’ death, work was completed on the 2013 British Safety Standard on Helmets, the first new set of standards since 1998. The update provides better protection to the head, although it does not cover the back of the neck where Hughes was struck. All countries have signed up to adhere to the regulations, but “it remains unclear what adoption means,” Irish says. The International Cricket Council has left enforcement up to individual boards, but only Australia has yet made it compulsory for players in board-sanctioned matches to wear helmets meeting these requirements.

“We have urged the ICC to introduce regulations,” Irish says. As it is, a significant proportion of players in domestic and international cricket continue to wear helmets that do not comply with the 2013 safety standard. Partly this reflects the conservatism and superstition of many who are reluctant to change helmets that have served them well.

There has been significant progress on safety in England. At a board meeting yesterday, the ECB discussed making it mandatory for all players, including wicketkeepers and close fielders as well as batsmen, in first-class cricket to wear helmets adhering to the 2013 safety standard in time for next season. Protection for umpires, with baseball helmets one option, was also discussed. The ECB is expected to make a statement about the matters later today.

Advances in protection of the area where Hughes was struck has been slower. “To date there is no independent safety standard for this product, which means that a minimum safety requirement has not been set for it yet,” explains Sam Miller, managing director of helmet manufacturer Masuri, which has devised a “StemGuard” that covers the back of the neck after Hughes was hit wearing one of its products. While the “StemGuard” has become available to buy it is still a work in progress.

Yet, even if “StemGuard” protection improves and countries belatedly start to enforce the 2013 standard at domestic level, progress in helmet safety at grassroots level will remain a significant challenge. The “affordability” of new helmets for club cricketers is one concern, especially in less well-off cricket nations.