A 17-year-old Australian cricketer has died after being struck in the neck by a ball during a practice session in Melbourne.
Ben Austin was training in the nets at Ferntree Gully on Tuesday when a ball launched from a handheld throwing device hit him in the neck. He was wearing a helmet but was not wearing a neck guard.
Emergency services arrived at about 17:00 local time (06:00 GMT) and Ben was taken to hospital in critical condition. He was placed on life support and died on Thursday.
Ben’s father, Jace Austin, described the family as “utterly devastated.” He said Ben was an adored son to him and Tracey, a beloved brother to Cooper and Zach, and a light in the lives of family and friends. Jace said the family takes some small comfort in knowing Ben was doing something he loved — spending time in the nets with mates — and that cricket brought him joy.
The family said they are also supporting the teammate who was bowling in the nets when the accident occurred. “This accident has impacted two young men and our thoughts are with him and his family as well,” Jace added, and he thanked the local cricket community and the first responders and medical staff who assisted Ben.
Cricket Victoria chief executive Nick Cummins said the loss was “extremely challenging” for everyone involved and noted the similarity to the 2014 death of Phillip Hughes, who was also struck on the neck. Hughes’s death prompted changes and improvements to safety equipment in the sport.
The ball involved in this incident had been delivered by a handheld launcher, a device commonly used to increase delivery speed and reduce strain on bowlers’ shoulders.
Cummins described Ben as a talented player, a popular teammate and captain well known in under-18 cricket circles in Melbourne’s southeast, and said the wider cricket community in Victoria and nationally was mourning his loss.
Ben played for the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club, which paid tribute to him on social media and asked friends and supporters to “put your bats out for Benny,” echoing a gesture made after Hughes’s death. The Waverley Park Hawks Junior Football Club, for which Ben had played more than 100 games, remembered him as kind, respectful and a fantastic footballer and said the club and community had lost a truly great young person whose absence would be keenly felt.
