CA set to probe Hughes’ death
Sydney, May 14: Cricket Australia (CA) said on Thursday that it will commission an independent review into the death of Test batsman Phillip Hughes to try to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
Hughes, 25, died on November 27 last year, two days after being hit on the head by a Sean Abbott bouncer in a first-class match in Sydney.
The review will be chaired by QC, David Curtain, a former Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council and President of the Australian Bar Association.
CA chief executive James Sutherland said the review would investigate what could be done to prevent such accidents.
“When this tragedy happened, I said that it was a freak accident, but it was one freak accident too many,” Sutherland said in a statement.
Sutherland said the review was not designed to apportion blame on any individual.
Some measures had already been put in place, he said, including increasing the medical presence at all CA-controlled matches and working closely with its helmet supplier to improve protective equipment offered to all players.
The review will not cover the laws of cricket and regulations unless they specifically relate to protective equipment or to the management of participants who suffer head or heart injuries, CA said.