List of fatalities while playing cricket
The following is a list of notable cricket players who died while playing a game, died directly from injuries sustained while playing, or died after being taken ill on the ground.
Player
Cause
Date
Place
Jasper Vinall
Struck on the head by a bat as a result of a double-hit attempt.[ 1]
28 August 1624
Horsted Keynes , Sussex
Henry Brand
Struck on the head by a bat (notable for being a similar double-hit to Vinall, which may have resulted in the 1744 codification of the rule .[ 2]
1647
Selsey , West Sussex .
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Keen on cricket and real tennis , it's been speculated that he died from either a pulmonary embolism or a burst abscess caused by being hit with a ball[ 3]
20 March 1751
London
James Balchen
"Killed by a cricket ball "[ 4]
buried 14 June 1764
Godalming, Surrey
George Summers
Struck on the head by a ball[ 5]
29 June 1870
Nottingham
John Hamilton Plumptre Lighton
Son of Rev. Sir Christopher Lighton, Baronet ; struck by a return drive by a batsman[ 6] [ 7]
12 July 1872
Repton , Derbyshire
Claude Wilson
Killed by sunstroke [ 8]
29 June 1881
Betchworth , Surrey
Lord Fitzroy Somerset
Youngest son of the Duke of Beaufort ; collapsed and died of suspected heart failure[ 9]
23 July 1881
near Tetbury , Gloucestershire
Frederick Randon Sr.
Struck on the head by a ball at Lord's in 1881, from which he never fully recovered, dying in February 1883[ 10]
17 February 1883
Hathern , Leicestershire
Frederick Jackman
Collapsed while batting[ 11]
5 September 1891
Horndean , England
Charles Lane
Struck over the heart by a ball[ 12]
20 May 1895
Cosme , Paraguay
Arthur Earlam
Struck by a return drive by the batsman[ 13]
July 1921
Runcorn , Cheshire
Edward Cox
Heart failure while playing cricket[ 14]
23 July 1925
Holyport , Berkshire , England
Max Smith
Struck by a ball (bowled by his younger brother Clive Smith ) which deflected into his head.[ 15]
27 October 1941
Werribee , Australia
Andy Ducat
Heart failure[ 16]
23 July 1942
London
Tom Killick
Heart problem[ 17]
18 May 1953
Northampton
Abdul Aziz
Struck over the heart by a ball[ 18]
17 January 1959
Karachi , Sindh , Pakistan
Martin Bedkober
Died when hit over the heart by a cricket ball;[ 19] flatmate of Jeff Thomson
13 December 1975
Brisbane , Queensland
Michael Ainsworth
"Suddenly"[ 20]
28 August 1978
Hillingdon , London
Wilf Slack
Collapsed while batting[ 21]
15 January 1989
Banjul , the Gambia
Ian Folley
Heart attack while being treated in hospital for eye injury sustained on the field[ 22]
30 August 1993
Whitehaven , Cumbria
Raman Lamba
Struck on the head by a ball while fielding[ 23]
23 February 1998
Dhaka , Bangladesh
Wasim Raja
Suffered a heart attack on the pitch[ 21] [ 24]
23 August 2006
Marlow , Buckinghamshire
Darryn Randall
Struck on the head by a ball[ 21]
27 October 2013
Alice , Eastern Cape
Phillip Hughes
Struck on the neck by a ball during a Sheffield shield match bowled by Sean Abbott[ 25]
27 November 2014
Sydney , New South Wales
Raymond van Schoor
Stroke [ 26]
20 November 2015
Windhoek , Namibia
References
^ McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century . Sussex Record Society. pp.xxxiii–xxxiv.
^ McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century . Sussex Record Society. pp.xxxiii–xxxiv. (Available online at the University of Michigan library. Retrieved 2022-04-05.)
^ Cavendish, Richard. "Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales" . History Today .
^ www.ancestry.co.uk https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/4790/images/40761_312029-00208?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=e61b351232038c122b686de7e4c04bf2&usePUB=true&_phsrc=XKp511&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.192049642.1517238373.1637392024-166252373.1632151042&pId=1029062 . Retrieved 21 November 2021 .
^ "NCCC News : Nottinghamshire Cricketers Part 7" . www.trentbridge.co.uk .
^ "Sad Death of a Baronet's Son" . York Herald . York, Yorkshire. 13 July 1871. p. 11. Retrieved 6 September 2024 .
^ "Cricketer". 1921 . 13 .
^ "Deaths". The Times . No. 30237. London. 4 July 1881. p. 1.
^ "Sudden Death of Lord Fitzroy Somerset" . Bath Chronicle . 28 July 1881. p. 6. Retrieved 6 September 2024 .
^ "Famous cricketers : the Randons" . www.hathernhistory.co.uk .
^ "Death in the cricket field" . Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer . 11 September 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 6 July 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion: A Cricket Odyssey through Latin America
^ "Cricketer". 1 . 13 . 1921.
^ "Colonel Edward Henry Cox" . Western Daily Press . Bristol . 25 July 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 12 November 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive .
^ "Cricket Field Fatality" . Werribee Shire Banner . Vic. 30 October 1941. p. 3. Retrieved 3 September 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
^ Williamson, Martin (4 December 2004). "Not out ... dead" . ESPN Cricinfo . Retrieved 29 November 2014 .
^ "Wisden Obituaries in 1953" . ESPN Cricinfo . 4 December 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2022 .
^ Haigh, Gideon (2006). Peter The Lord's Cat and Other Unexpected Obituaries from Wisden . London, Eng: John Wisden & Co. p. 16. ISBN 1845131630 .
^ "Queensland Cricket Archive" . cricketarchive.com . Retrieved 28 August 2022 .
^ "Wisden Obituaries in 1978" . ESPN Cricinfo . 5 December 2005. Retrieved 18 April 2019 .
^ a b c "FACTBOX-Cricket-Deaths caused from on-field incidents" . Reuters . 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016.
^ Powell, Rose (28 November 2014). "Ten fatal cricket injuries before Phillip Hughes died" . The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 29 November 2014 .
^ "The tragic death of Raman Lamba" . Martin Williamson . Cricinfo Magazine, 14 August 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2015 .
^ "Wasim Raja dies playing cricket" . ESPN Cricinfo . 23 August 2006.
^ Staff reporters (27 November 2014). "Phillip Hughes dead: Australian cricketer dies after bouncer at SCG" . The Sydney Morning Herald .
^ "Namibian cricketer Raymond van Schoor dies, aged 25, five days after on-field collapse due to stroke" . abc.net.au. 21 November 2015.