Teenage cricketer in Australia dies after being hit with cricket ball in Melbourne’s east

A Melbourne teenager has died after reportedly being struck in the neck with a ball during cricket practice earlier this week. Emergency services were called to Wally Tew Reserve in Ferntree Gully, in Melbourne’s east, on Tuesday at about 4.45pm, where 17-year-old Ben Austin was practising before a cricket game. He was reported to have collapsed in the nets after being struck in the neck by a ball while he was practising his batting. Advanced life support and intensive care paramedics treated him at the scene and he was transported by road ambulance to the Monash medical centre in Clayton in a critical condition. The Ferntree Gully cricket club announced the teenager’s death on Thursday morning, saying it was “absolutely devastated” by his passing. “The impacts of his death will be felt by all in our cricket community,” the club said in a Facebook post. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family … his extended family, his friends and to all of those who knew [him] and the joy that he brought.” The post was quickly inundated with condolences and support messages from the broader cricketing community. The club asked that the privacy of the teenager’s family be respected. The Ringwood and District Cricket Association president, Michael Finn, said the teenager was warming up in the nets before a T20 match when the catastrophic injury occurred in front of his teammates. “Medical assistance was provided by people at the ground at the time until the paramedics arrived,” he says. Finn said the organisation, along with Cricket Victoria, continued to offer its full support to those affected. Reports suggested the teenager had been wearing a helmet when the incident occurred. The Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association also expressed its “deep sorrow and shock” at the death of the player, who had been involved with the Ferntree Gully, Mulgrave and Eildon Park cricket clubs. The teenager had also played representative cricket for the Ferntree Gully and District Cricket Association. The cricket association’s president, Arnie Walters, said the teenager was “both talented and popular in local cricket” and “an enormous loss to our local community.” “I know how heavily this news will land across our community and we will provide any and all support we can to our clubs and cricket family,” he said. “We would ask that the privacy is respected of everyone involved at a very difficult time.” The incident comes just over a decade after the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, who died after being struck in the neck during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Hughes’s death put a spotlight on safety in the sport, including improving helmet safety and the use of neck protectors, and the dangers of concussion.