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Make cricket safer

Lawmakers have an onerous task in trying to enhance safety without sacrificing excitement

A universally tearful farewell was bid to the brave Phillip Hughes who embodied the spirit of cricket. He died in a freak accident with the ball contact rupturing an artery. While his death at 25 is a great loss, it is not completely wasted in the sense that his demise throws the light on the unspoken fears of sportsmen in dealing with on-field injuries and accidents.

Cricket is not a fierce contact sport, but it is a hard game for batsmen against a hard ball even if misadventures with the short-pitched ball do not always lead to such tragic consequences.

As guardian of the laws of cricket — yes, it has laws, not rules — the Marylebone Cricket Club in London will have to look at the laws anew and see if they can be improved. The laws are already strict about the persistent use of the bouncer to intimidate as a consequence of the ill will generated by the Bodyline series of 1932-33. But the bouncer cannot be banned altogether lest the game get even more batsman-oriented.

The lawmakers have an onerous task in trying to enhance safety without sacrificing excitement. This is particularly difficult in the modern era because state-of-the-art safety equipment emboldens batsmen to get on to the front foot more often in a game far more aggressive thanks to limited-overs cricket. Cricket has to be made safer in the youngest age groups if new generations of cricketers are not to shy away because of the dangers as perceived in the saga of Hughes.

( Source : dc )
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