A Bangladeshi teenager died in hospital in Dhaka after he was hit by a ball while umpiring a cricket match, police said yesterday.
Rafiqul Islam, 17, was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital late on Friday after the incident at Balur Math Cricket Ground in Dhaka.
“A group of youths were playing cricket in the field and the boy was the umpire. He collapsed on the field after a ball hit him in the chest,” local police chief Enamul Haque said.
Photo AFP
“He is from a very poor family. His father is a rickshaw-puller and mother works as a housemaid. They buried him last night,” he said.
The incident comes three years after the tragic death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes in similar circumstances.
Hughes, who played 26 Tests, died from bleeding on the brain in November 2014 after being hit on the base of the skull by a ball during a domestic match in Sydney.
His death stunned the world cricket community, sparking an outpouring of grief and intensifying a focus on player safety.
Meanwhile, Australia captain Steve Smith will return home from the tour of India due to a shoulder injury, Cricket Australia announced just hours before the opener of a three-match Twenty20 series against the hosts yesterday.
Smith hurt his right shoulder diving in the field during the fifth and final one-day international against India at Nagpur on Sunday last week, adding injury to the insult of a 4-1 series loss for the visitors.
The board said an MRI scan had ruled out any serious injury and he would be fit for the start of the domestic season and to lead Australia against archrivals England at home in the Ashes series starting on Nov. 23 in Brisbane.
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