CRICKET connections run deep but it’s often only when tragedy strikes one of their own that cricketers find out how deep.
The Leongatha and District Cricket Association played in the ‘Provincial’ division of Melbourne Country Week this year with the eventual winners, the Ferntree Gully District Cricket Association.
The previous year, they played against them in the Pool games.
“We know some of the guys out there and we’ll be reaching out to them this week,” said Manager of the LDCA Country Week team Kristian Gray.
He’s also aware of a strong local connection with the young 17-year-old, Ben Austin, tragically killed in a training accident at the Walley Tew Reserve in Fern Tree Gully during the week.
Former Australian, Victorian, South Australian and Wonthaggi cricketer, Darren Berry, is a director of coaching at the Rowville Sports Academy attended by the promising young cricketer, and just as he has been credited with the development of the likes of Nathan Lyon and Travis Head, Darren was also helping Ben along the way too.
These connections bring home how widely this tragedy will be felt and why there’s likely to be quite a few ‘Bats Out For Benny’ over the next few days, just as they did after the accident which killed Australian test cricketer Phil Hughes in 2014.
“Statistically speaking, cricket is one of the safest sports, even when you consider we play with a hard ball but we’ll be reinforcing our safety procedures when we talk to the players this week, especially the juniors,” said Gray.
“We’ll be speaking to the kids tonight at training about what’s happened and the fact that he died doing what he loved most but we’ll also be impressing on them that there’s nothing like sporting clubs, whether its cricket or footy or something else to get around each other when something goes wrong.
“They’ll make sure his memory lives on.”
Gray said the risks associated with playing cricket were relatively low when assessed against other sports and while precautions needed to be taken, it ranked below walking as a pastime likely to cause injury.
“We’ll be reinforcing those safety messages this week and doing our due diligence but it’s just a tragedy for something like this to happen.”
Sporting clubs have already been weighing in with their condolences, including Ben Austin’s footy club, The Waverley Park Hawks JFC: “Ben was not only a fantastic footballer, he was also an exceptional cricketer, playing for the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club and Rowville Sports Academy in their Senior Cricket team. He was a wonderful all-round athlete and loved by all who knew him.”