Cricket Casualties: Unfortunate Cricket deaths – Part 1
Cricket has always been said to be a sport of the gentlemen; however, under its current state of play, the game has been criticized by traditionalists who believe that the sport has been revolutionized into something which it primarily did not come out as.
However, apart from the development of newer formats such as Twenty20 (T20), many more changes have been brought in to the game, primarily looking towards safety, since neglecting the use of protective gear in the past has either resulted in a severe injury
or in some cases, loss of life.
At the same time, many other factors have also served to result in some serious casualties in the sport.
This abstract looks at some the grave tragedies under the sport of cricket, which led to the sad demise of some of the important players from the world of cricket.
Abdul Aziz (1941 – 1959)
The cricketing fraternity of the Sub Continent region saw one of its first ‘on-field’ demises, after http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Abdul-Aziz-c41517, at a young age of 17, passed away after being hit on the heart with the cricket ball during a match.
The unfortunate mishap took place during the final match of the domestic cricket event in Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, on January 17, 1959, where Aziz was playing for his home team, Karachi, against the opposing side, Pakistan Combined Services.
During the opening innings of the match, Aziz, who was a usual opening batsman for his team, was struck on the heart through an off-break delivery making the player fall to the ground and go unconscious, from which the batsman c*m wicket keeper failed to
recover.
Aziz’s cricketing career spanned between a minor period of 1957 and 1959 which included 8 first-class matches with an aggregate of 149 runs.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wilfred-Norris-Slack-c96598 (1954 – 1989)
Opening batsman, Wilf Slack, bid farewell to the world of cricket following his sad demise in early January, 1989, after suffering from a heart attack during a domestic county match, in Banjul, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gambia-c40998.
Slack’s unfortunate loss came after the player fell and suffered a heart seizure while batting for his local team, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Middlesex-c817.
As a much appreciated cricketer, Slack earned a decent goodwill, both in domestic and International cricket.
The English entered the world of cricket in 1977 as a first-class player and then went on to mark his International presence by representing the national team, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760.
Slack’s miniature International career spanned just for a year during which he represented England in 2 ODI matches while 3 Test fixtures. In contrast, the batsman spent almost a decade in domestic cricket where he represented his local team, Middlesex,
between 1977 and 1988.
The player’s unfortunate loss came at the age of 34. However, a year before his death, it was reported that during the 1988 English cricket season, Slack suffered a number of blackouts on the field as well as during net practices.
Slack’s demise was mourned by many, across the cricketing brood, and was buried in his ‘prized England blazer’.
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