Spotlight on cricket training devices after teen’s death

The coroner will probe the training incident that led to the death of young cricketer Ben Austin as coaches warn better guidelines are required for bowling devices.

A spotlight has been cast on the safety of cricket after the death of the Ferntree Gully teenager who was struck on the neck by an accidental full toss while training with friends on Tuesday. He died later in hospital.

While doctors have declared the sport safe and Austin’s death a freak occurrence, coaches are debating the use of “wangers”, a training aid that dispenses the cricket ball at varying speeds and lengths.

Police will prepare a report on Austin’s death for the coroner, who can investigate the cause of death but also make recommendations about safety issues.

Cricket Victoria have said they will look at how things could be done better in the future.

Cricket coaches who spoke to this masthead on Thursday expressed their support for an investigation into how the bowling devices are used and for better guidelines. They also expressed their sadness at Austin’s death.

The 17-year-old was receiving deliveries from a friend who was using a wanger, a device which has been used worldwide for more than a decade. Club officials said the device used was a cricket specific one.

Coach Bathiya Perera said the bowling aids were the best advancement in coaching and allowed coaches to work with batters for longer, but they could be dangerous when not used correctly.

“It’s one of the best tools invented for coaching and for batting,” Perera said.

“As the batters get better at it, they prefer to face the sidearm [rather] than the bowling machine because it’s more like a natural bowler, and there’s a lot of variations in it.

“But I don’t think there’s enough guidelines around how to use it.”

Two of the most notable wangers are the Sidearm, which comes in different colours that represent different speeds, and the Robo Arm, which promotes having speeds of up to 160km/h.

Perera, who is the batting coach at Casey South Melbourne, said parents and players should pick a device with a speed that was suitable for their ability.

“I think a lot of the kids use the wrong colours,” Perera said.

“That’s probably the biggest problem. If they go with a yellow [junior level] Sidearm and are wearing the correct protective gear, I don’t think it can do much damage.

“Another issue is that a lot of the nets kids do are unsupervised, so you don’t know if they are wearing the correct protective gear and if the feeder is confident with the device.”

Coach Keith Jansz said he preferred to use a bowling machine or his own arm when working with players at Jansz Cricket Academy.

“I found it difficult to control, it was going to take a little bit of time to master it and I didn’t have the time to do that,” Jansz said.

“I like the bowling machine or my own arm. I’ve been throwing all my life and I can use my fingers to rip the seam and cut it and things like that. So maybe I’m one of the fortunate ones that can do all that sort of stuff.”

Jansz added that players could become great without them.

“I agree that the game moves forward and you find these different training aides, but Sir Don Bradman, Greg Chappell, Viv Richards and even Ricky Ponting wouldn’t have faced one – so you can make it to the top without it,” Jansz said.

Australian Medical Association Victorian president and emergency physician Simon Judkins assured parents that cricket was a safe sport for children, saying it was “extremely” rare to see players hospitalised.

“This tragedy has occurred in the context of over 100 years of people playing cricket over many, many countries all over the world, and so it’s an incredibly rare ... that something like this would happen,” Judkins said.

“It is an incredibly unfortunate and sad event. Cricket is probably one of the safest sports of any sport. But any activity we do outside, whether that’s climbing a tree or running in a park, there’s always going to be a risk.”

Judkins said while he understood the concern among parents, it was important to highlight that the benefits of children playing sport, being active and healthy and social, far outweighed the risks.

He said without knowing the full details or cause of the boy’s death, he suspects it may be similar to the event that claimed the life of Australian cricketer Phil Hughes in November 2014.

“These appear to be two very rare and tragic cases,” Judkins said.

Hughes, 25, died in hospital two days after being his in the neck by a ball during a match. The strike split the main artery supplying blood to his head, sending bleeding into the brain and a build-up of pressure that doctors could not overcome.

A coroner’s report into Hughes’ death recommended stem guards that attach to cricket helmets and protect the neck be mandatory, and in 2023, Cricket Australia made it a formal instruction for players representing Australia.

Cricket Victoria chief executive Nicholas Cummins said they would review Austin’s death and whether use of neck guards should be compulsory at lower levels of cricket.

“I think the temptation in moments like this is to move to solution mode,” he said.

“At the moment, our focus is around providing support and counselling for those people who experienced the trauma. There will be an appropriate time to review that and answer those questions.

“But right now, our focus is 100 per cent on the family, the members of Ferntree Gully Cricket Club, and at the appropriate time we’ll review that.”

With Daniel Brettig and Broede Carmody

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