No cricket fan can forget the year 2014, which brought the sad news in the cricket world, especially for Australian cricket, when the emerging batsman Phillip Hughes passed away aged 25 after getting injured from a bouncer.
The incident took place during a domestic match held in Sydney, Hughes got hit on the head from a ball of Sean Abbott. He immediately fell on the ground and went unconscious. Two days later, he was declared dead by the doctors. Though Hughes was wearing a helmet, but the ball struck an unprotected area just below his left ear.
The tragic incident changed the mindset of both batsmen and bowlers. One would have noticed after that sad episode, every cricketer, staff members, umpires and officials started showing more concern whenever a bouncer gets hit on the helmet.
During the Ashes 2019 in England, something similar happened with former Australia captain Steve Smith. The 30-year-old had got hit on the helmet from a nasty bouncer of Jofra Archer. Smith fell on the ground and was lying there for sometime before the physio and medical team pulled him off the field.
But what was taking place inside the change room of the Australian cricket team that time, remained a mystery until Amazon Prime released a documentary series ‘The Test.’ – it is based upon the struggle of the Australian side to get back into form after the infamous ball-tampering scandal.
The incident of Smith getting hit on the helmet is shown in the seventh episode of the series. In the episode, Australian cricketers can be seen reacting to what they exactly felt when Smith faced the brutal delivery by Archer.
Opening batsman and a close friend of Smith, David Warner disclosed how did he actually feel when he saw Smith lying on the ground.
“When I saw him go down, we were all just like not again, not. Please, it cannot happen,” said Warner. The New South Wales cricketer referred to the incident of Hughes in 2014.
Aussie pacer Peter Siddle expressed: “I think we were all in shock. I think the worst was when he was laying there. That was probably the scariest moment for us all.”
Left-handed batsman Usman Khawaja said: “We never thought it would happen. Never thought you could get hit in the head and die from it. And that never crossed my mind, growing up, playing cricket, until it actually happened to Hughesy.”
“A New Era for Australia’s Team, is a docuseries following the Australian Men’s Cricket Team, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how one of the world’s best cricket teams fell from grace and was forced to reclaim their title and integrity,” description of ‘The Test’ as per Amazon.
