Crocket:‘Ball would have felt like a bullet’

Ball that hit cricketer Phil Hughes at SCG would have felt like bullet, says expert 

PHILLIP Hughes would have felt as if he had been hit by a bullet, an expert says.Harder than a rock, the cricket ball weighing roughly 160 grams was travelling at 85km/h or more when it struck him behind his left ear.

“The ball is small so the ­actual pressure is like a bullet effect,” said Dr Edouard Ferdinands of Sydney University, a world expert in cricket biomechanics.
“People think it’s only a ball — that’s an illusion. Where he was hit is the spot where there is some ­crucial brain matter.”
He said batsmen were vulnerable to short-pitched deliveries because even state-of-the-art modern helmets only partly covered the head. “There are weak spots even in the helmet itself,” said Dr Ferdinands.
“There is a chance for the ball to get through the grille — there have certainly been incidents there.
“Also, where the ball hit Phil Hughes, the helmets don’t extend that far down.
“Maybe there needs to be extra padding that extends down ­towards the neck. That might be something that needs to be addressed.”
Other experts said that the injuries caused by a cricket ball can be the same as those suffered in a high-speed car crash, skydiving, or in horror ski ­accidents such as that suffered by former F1 champ Michael Schumacher.
Sports doctor Dr Peter ­Larkins said a ­direct blow anywhere to the skull had the potential to cause the most ­serious injuries.
“It doesn’t matter if it is a skiing accident like Schumacher’s, or football, motorcycling, parachuting or falling off a horse — it is why we wear helmets,” he said.