Australia’s cricket community have begun to put their bats out in a gesture to remember teenage cricketer Ben Austin after he was killed by a ball hitting his neck in a practice session, in an incident in Melbourne on Tuesday described as similar to the death of former Test player Phillip Hughes in 2014.
The 17-year-old was wearing a helmet but not a neck guard, and while the incident is likely to trigger calls to make such protection mandatory at the community level – as it already is among elite players – cricket officials said the priority must be around supporting Austin’s family and the boy who threw the ball with a training tool known as a sidearm or “wanger”.
Austin’s cricket club, Ferntree Gully, posted on Facebook on Thursday calling on people to “put your bats out for Benny”, replicating the gesture that followed Hughes’ death. Dozens of other posts under the hashtag #batsoutforben have followed, highlighting the impact the incident has had on Australia’s cricket community.
Cricket Victoria’s chief executive, Nick Cummins, was emotional in addressing media on Thursday. “He is the classic Australian child that we’re all very proud of,” he said. “An active, terrific boy, highly engaged in his team, very popular. And that’s what just makes it so hard, is it’s a very bright light that has been dimmed.”
Jayce Austin, Ben’s father, said in a statement that the family was “utterly devastated” by the passing of “our beautiful Ben”.
“This tragedy has taken Ben from us, but we find some comfort that he was doing something he did for so many summers – going down to the nets with mates to play cricket,” he said.
“He loved cricket and it was one of the joys of his life. We would also like to support his teammate who was bowling in the nets – this accident has impacted two young men and our thoughts are with he and his family as well.”
Cummins said the details were still “fairly scant” given the trauma suffered by the people involved. “A group of boys were having a practice session and a boy was hit with a ball that was thrown with a sidearm and hit him in the neck, in a similar sort of accident like Phil Hughes suffered,” Cummins said.
In addition to the move for people to leave cricket bats at their doors, memorials are planned for Friday’s T20 against India at the MCG and coming Sheffield Shield matches, and some grassroots cricketers around the country intend to wear black armbands out of respect to the keen cricketer from Melbourne’s east.
Cummins said after the blow, Austin was treated on site by members of the club with first aid experience, emergency services arrived promptly and he was quickly taken to Monash hospital. “He got care very quickly, unfortunately he was on life support and obviously is in a situation where he was unlikely to recover,” he said.
Cummins confirmed Austin was not wearing a neck guard, which has become a contentious issue in cricketing circles since Hughes’s death. Cricket Australia considered but decided against mandating neck protectors for community cricket in 2023.
The cricket executive said a full investigation into the incident would occur, but now was not the time for kneejerk decisions. “The temptation in moments like this is to move to solution modes,” Cummins said. “At the moment, our focus is around providing support and counselling for those people who experienced the trauma.”
“It’s often a response to a tragedy that people feel like they need to do something straight away. There will be a time to do something, we just need to make sure that we focus on the people who are directly impacted in the immediate time.”
Safety measures have been introduced since Hughes’s death that now require all batters facing fast or medium-pace bowling in Cricket Australia-sanctioned competitions to wear both a helmet that meets the latest standard and a neck protector.
While the same rules apply for helmets in community cricket, junior and grassroots competitions have avoided the mandate for neck protectors, which are seen within some circles as restrictive and uncomfortable. There are also no explicit requirements for safety equipment when facing sidearms.
The governing body issued guidelines for community cricket in 2023, “strongly recommending” that everyone wear a neck protector alongside a helmet, however it stopped short of a mandate. Its own frequently asked questions document covered why there was no mandate.
“CA recognises that there needs to be a transition period for participants to develop understanding about how to play with neck protectors, fit and measure them so they are appropriate to play in, and the potential cost associated with them,” it stated.
A leading neck protector known as Stemguard costs $70 for adults and $45 for children and clips on to the back of helmets.
Cricket Australia chair, Mike Baird, flagged on Thursday that the rules would be reviewed. “Clearly there are things that we have to learn from this, but right now we are concerned about the family and trying to support them in every way,” he said.
