5 players who sustained bad on-field injuries

A 5.5 oz sphere of cork searing into the body of a batsman at brisk ninety-odd miles an hour, or the same ball, with even greater momentum belting into an evading close-in fielder or the umpteen occasions in each match where miscalculation equivalent to a fraction of a second can easily lead to the hardships of a split webbing.

Cricket is one tough sport!

With it being one of the longest sports in terms of duration and the most dynamic in terms of on-field activity, cricketers become incredibly susceptible to injury. Not just batsmen or bowlers, but even the outfielders who are apparently remote to the core of the action. Here, we look at some of the worst injuries sustained by cricketers in the midst of action on the field.

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#5 Kusal Perera

In the third test match against the West Indies at Bridgetown in 2018, Shannon Gabriel in his now infamous across-the-line slog, sent the ball soaring to the boundary off the bowling of Dilruwan Perera.

Perera who was perched at long-on leapt to cut off the motion of the sailing ball and got hold of it, but his momentum took him beyond the boundary ropes and in a gruesome course of events, he landed chest-on on the sharp advertising boards put up beyond the ropes. Everyone on the field rushed towards the injured fieldsman.

The Sri Lankan medical team after attending to him immediately, had him carried off in a stretcher for further treatment. He did not take part in play the rest of the day.

#4 Craig Kieswetter

Image Courtesy: Mirror

The explosive English wicket-keeper batsman got injured from the most constant, frequent and potent of threats on a cricket field, the threat that accounts for most of the batting impulses, ergo, being hit by a cricket ball.

Playing for Somerset against Northamptonshire on July 12, 2014, Kieswetter was stuck on the helmet by a David Willey bumper and the pace of the ball allowed it to pass through the grille from the gap between it and the visor of the helmet and even the reduced impact of the ball was not enough to safeguard the batsman from a serious injury. He endured a broken nose and a fractured cheekbone.

The implications weren't just those, he suffered from double vision for a while and despite a few attempts to make a comeback to cricket, including one final hurrah in the 2015 Ram Slam in South Africa, Kieswetter had to announce a sad premature conclusion to a glittering career.

#3 Moises Henriques and Rory Burns

You do not play the red-ball across its line, you take extra caution in running off overthrows and among the most important basics of cricket, you make loud and clear calls on a cricket field while going in for catch on a populated part of a field.

The practical application, however, sometimes becomes difficult to execute, even for professionals. Playing for Surrey in their T20 Blast match against Sussex at Arundel, both Burns and Henriques went in for a catch and with both of them running in from far distances and owing to the will to not let the catch go, they could not restrain their momentum to get out of each other's way and what followed was a sickening collision.

Henriques broke his jaw in three places after he was struck by Burns's knee while Burns sustained injuries on both face and neck. Both cricketers, since, returned to professional cricket but the incident was something of a worse disaster averted scenario.

#2 Mark Boucher

South Africa's historic series win in England in 2012 was highlighted by the highs of a Hashim Amla triple-ton, a Dale Steyn masterclass in swing bowling but all that got eclipsed by a freak injury to their greatest wicket-keeper of all time.

In a tour match against Somerset, Boucher, who was standing up to the stumps without a helmet, keeping to Imran Tahir, got hit in the left eye by a bail deflected off the stumps as Gemaal Hussain was bowled. Boucher had to undergo surgery after he was diagnosed with a lacerated eyeball.

Stranded on 998 international dismissals, including a test record of 555 of those coming in 147 test matches, he would never play another match of professional cricket again due to the aftermath of the injury and the effects of it on his vision.

A particularly emotional Graeme Smith, the skipper of the side, said the following words echoing the contribution of Boucher to South African cricket.

For 14 years of your international career, you have been a true Proteas warrior, a patriotic South African, a fighter who asks nothing and gives everything. You have been a 100 percenter for this team.

#1 Phillip Hughes

The incident that got whole of Australia and the cricketing world to rally together and mourn for the loss of a humble and talented cricketer, the incident that eventually led to a hostile Mitchell Johnson to openly show concern for batsmen rather than staring them from down the pitch, the incident that spurred a prolonged show of emotion lasting all throughout the Australian summer and affected people on an unprecedented scale.

In a virtual audition for inclusion in the team to face India in the home summer, a rampant Phil Hughes on 63 playing for South Australia on his original home ground, the SCG, was struck by a Sean Abbott bouncer on the back of his neck after missing a pull stroke. First impression was that he had endured the blow, but all of a sudden Hughes collapsed sending Australia into a frenzy of panic.

All Shield matches going on were immediately called off and Hughes fought for his life, but despite timely medical treatments from the best facilities available, and succumbed to the vertebral artery dissection which led to subarachnoid haemorrhage.

The loss felt from the incident was well versed in the then Australian captain Michael Clarke's eulogy at Hughes' funeral.

I walked to the middle of the SCG on Thursday night, those same blades of grass beneath my feet where he and I and so many of his mates here today have built partnerships, taken chances and lived out the dreams we paint in our heads as boys.