Tiny ‘misjudgement’ caused Hughes death, says coroner

SYDNEY: Australian batsman Phillip Hughes made a “minuscule misjudgement” before he was fatally struck by a cricket ball, a coroner ruled on Friday, attaching no blame to the bowler, verbal abuse or the tactic of sending down short-pitched deliveries.

Hughes, who played 26 Tests, died from bleeding on the brain in November 2014 after being hit on the neck by a rising ball from Sean Abbott while batting in a domestic match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

“A minuscule misjudgement or a slight error of execution caused him to miss the ball which crashed into his neck with fatal consequences,” said New South Wales coroner Michael Barnes in long-awaited findings.

“There was no suggestion the ball was bowled with malicious intent. Neither the bowler nor anyone else was to blame for the tragic outcome.”

During the inquest concerns had been raised by Hughes’ family about on-field sledging, or verbal abuse, including threats against him, and the amount of short, fast deliveries he faced which they felt the umpires could have stopped.

But Barnes said neither affected Hughes’ composure, and he had been comfortably dealing with the short-pitched balls “because of his very high level of skill and competence”.

“I conclude no failure to enforce the laws of the game contributed to his death,” he said, but recommended the laws around dangerous and unfair bowling be reviewed by Cricket Australia to clear up any ambiguity in their wording.

He made no finding on whether sledging occurred, but said even if it did it did not affect his composure.

But Barnes expressed hope that the focus on this “unsavoury aspect” of the game might cause players to think again before abusing opponents.

He added that the death would not have been prevented even if Hughes was wearing more modern head protection, and that a quicker medical response would also have made no difference to the “unsurvivable” injuries.

“Phillip wasn’t wearing the most up-to-date safety helmet when he was struck,” he said.

“However, had he even been wearing that most modern equipment then available, it would not have protected the area of his body where the fatal blow landed.”