As that classic Bobby Cliff song goes, “I don’t like cricket on no, I love it”, and this perfectly sums up my feelings towards this great game.  I can’t quite remember exactly where or when I first fell in love with cricket but it has always been a big part of my life. My love affair with cricket has been so eternal that I jest with people that Dad must have given me a bat and ball as soon as I was out of the womb….I wouldn’t have put it past him God rest his soul ha ha. My Godfather Uncle Stan played cricket for Cheshire, my late Uncle Jim had trails for Lancashire, and my late Father was a decent club player at local league level. On family holidays when I was a kid we were forever having games of cricket in the local park or on the beach when the tide was out.  Remembering such days of the past makes me happy but also kind of sad.  I miss those family holidays when everything seemed so much simpler in life back then. I also miss my Uncle Jim and Dad not being here anymore, but at the same time I know these happy family memories of mine will stay with me forever.  I duly followed in Dad’s footsteps and went on to play cricket for various teams. I got a hat-trick(three wickets in three balls) playing in an Under 15s match once and we still have the ball mounted on a plaque on my Mother’s living room sideboard. As a young teenager I used to live for Sundays in the summer months, where we’d head off to Old Trafford to watch my beloved Lancashire play a one day game. I can still remember going to my first game and me getting scared to death because Michael Holding(ex West Indian great) playing for Derbyshire, hit this massive six and it landed near us. My point of all this is that my passion and love for the game of cricket will always be part of me, it’s part of who I am.  Therefore, I could not believe it  last week when I heard the most tragic news that Australian International cricketer Phil Hughes had died due to being hit by ball on the neck. To be honest it still feels like a dream because I still can’t believe it actually happened, or rather I’m finding it hard to accept it. This is cricket remember not boxing, PEOPLE DON’T DIE PLAYING CRICKET……..I guess this view I used to hold is redundant now after this heartbreaking episode.

I can remember reading or hearing about cricketer Phil Hughes being badly injured after getting hit by a ball, and to be honest I didn’t really think too much more about it. Batsmen are always getting hit by the ball so I just assumed this must just have been a bad one. I thought to myself, oh he’ll be fine in a week or two no doubt. Then I heard an update that he was now in coma and that his condition was now being described as critical. I was really shocked at this news but yet again I confidently thought he’d get over the worst of it and make a full recovery in time. I say it again, PEOPLE DON’T DIE PLAYING CRICKET DO THEY, so he was bound to get better?  The day after my Mother woke me up to the most tragic of news of all, namely that at the only tender 25 yrs of age, cricketer Phillip Hughes had died(of a vertebral artery dissection).  I couldn’t believe it, I was truly saddened and shocked. Not in a million years did I think he might die. Soon afterwards I went on the internet and it was truly heartbreaking to read about it all. According to reports, he had been unbelievably unlucky. I read an article that said in literature there has only been a hundred cases of this type of death recorded. The ball hit him below his protective helmet on the upper part of his neck. This led to the artery splitting and thus he had lots of bleeding in the brain. The more I read the emotional reactions from people on twitter then the more upset I found myself getting. I am not embarrassed to admit that tears welled up in my eyes about three of four times that day due to being so upset by the this tragic news.  I thought about the anguish his family must be going through and I was also devastated for the poor guy who bowled him that fatal delivery. Sean Abbot at only 22yrs old was just doing his job, he just bowled a bouncer to try and get the batsmen out like millions of other bowlers have done in the past.  How do you get over this if you’re him……can you ever, I sincerely hope he can? In the immediate aftermath it was comforting to see ex-players showing concern for him by stating how much support Abbot needs from us all now. It was so moving to read Hughes’ family state how they wanted to give Abbot a big hug when they saw him at the funeral, to show him that they didn’t blame him and it was just a freak accident.

Social media is always in the headlines these days and mostly it’s for the wrong reasons. eg people sending abusive messages to others. The death of Phillip Hughes however showed humanity at its best, it showed the greater cricket community at its best too. The vehicle that allowed cricket lovers throughout the world to pay tribute to Phil Hughes, was the creation of the twitter hashtag #PutOutYourBats accompanied with a photo of your cricket bat(in/outside homes, outside peoples’ works, and in sporting venues).  The creator is an Australian man called Paul Taylor who lives Sydney. He said it was just his way in expressing how sad he felt upon hearing the news about Hughes. It soon became a global phenomena and it was an unbelievably moving thing to see on twitter. Celebrities, famous ex cricketers and current international players all posted images of their caps and bats. Crickets fans around the world took part too, there was a real sense of all the cricket fans throughout the world coming together and paying homage to this fallen cricket star via this method. Pakistan were in the middle of a Test Match when it happened and so it was so moving too see the bat of each player positioned outside their dressing room in honour of Phil.  This way of paying tribute to Phil just seemed to fit the mood perfectly.  It was heartfelt, dignified and a great way in expressing comradeship between fellow cricket lovers……..all of who were bereft and suffering at hearing such tragic news.

I was reading about the funeral of Phillip Hughes and came across the very moving speech that Australian Captain Michael Clarke gave. The line that struck me the most was when he said, “Phillip’s spirit , which is now part of the game forever, will act as a custodian of the sport we all love”. I hope from these words and out of this very sad event professional cricket can have a sort of re-birth of sorts because it needs it. I agree with both commentator Mark Nicholas and journalist Lawrence Booth that cricket in terms of aggression, has in recent years gone a step too far.  Jimmy Anderson in my view doesn’t need to be that aggressive towards opposing batsmen. The way Sri Lankans all rounded on young Joe Root when batting last Summer in a Test left a bad taste in the mouth.  I also have to pull up Michael Clarke when he was overheard sledging Anderson in the Ashes last year, telling him to get ready to receive a broken arm from the bowling of Mitchell Johnson. Nicholas implores players to “stop the rancour, stop the sledging, play the game and ignite the friendships that make it so special”. Booth states how in the immediate aftermath of Hughes tragedy it should remind everybody of the true spirit of cricket, he wants cricket to be kinder. He also comments on Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand that was going on whilst the Hughes tragedy was unfolding. The Pakistani batsmen Asad Shafiq was dismissed for 137  and very sportingly, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson ran thirty or forty rans to shake his hand. A kinder cricket is what Booth calls for, cricket is a better sport played like this adds and I for one agree. Do not misunderstand me I don’t want watered down cricket because cricket is at its best when played hard, no quarter given.  We want to see the fascinating adrenaline pumping duels between an ace fast bowler and a master batsmen. I think back to that fascinating duel between South African fast bowler Allan Donald and England Opening Batsman Michael Atherton, the intensity and atmosphere they both produced was electric. The hostile bouncer even after this incident must remain part cricket in my opinion because it is such an important part of the game, such an important part of a bowler’s arsenal. I just pray cricket helmet manufacturers can improve their products enough so that if you area hit in this neck area where Phillip Hughes was, then you don’t stand any chance of losing your life.

I end this blog by quoting a very fitting line that Cricket Australia Chief James Sutherland gave at the Phillip Hughes funeral. In the midst of this tragedy he said, “cricket’s heart has been pierced with pain, but it will never stop beating.  I love cricket and always will, I just don’t want to see a death like this ever happen again………because then I will have to seriously QUESTION MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH CRICKET!