Injuries In Cricket That Ended Careers

Injuries are a common part of any sport and Cricket is no exception. It is very difficult to avoid injuries when you are associated with any kind of sport. With recent advancement in technology, the severity of injuries has been reduced drastically and in the near future it might be possible that injuries would become a rarity. Earlier when the technology was not as advanced as it is now, the players sustained injuries which sometimes proved to be fatal. There have been cases where the player sustained an injury and later on succumbed to it.

Though there have been leaps and bounds of improvement in the safety measures adopted to prevent a player from getting injured, still it cannot be said that the players are perfectly safe from any kind of injuries. The severity of injuries depends on various factors and its consequences can be fatal. Injuries can force a player to take retirement from the game thus ending a career which could have been sparkling and illustrious if not for that injury.

In the following slides, we are going to have a look at the players whose careers came to an abrupt end because of the injuries they sustained during the game of cricket.

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#1 Mark Boucher(South Africa)

Mark Boucher

Mark Boucher suffered a serious eye injury on 9 July 2012, after being struck on his left eye by a bail. He was not wearing a protective helmet or glasses when he was struck by the bail after leg-spinner Imran Tahir bowled Somerset's, Gemaal Hussain. Following surgery to the eyeball, Boucher was ruled out of the rest of the tour. Due to the severity of the injury, Boucher—who had planned to retire at the end of the tour—retired from International Cricket on 10 July.

Mark Boucher was a fantastic batsman and an equally skilled wicketkeeper with 998 dismissals to his name. He could have reached that magical figure of 1000 if he had not suffered that career-ending injury. His useful contributions for South Africa would be remembered for a very long time.

#2 Phil Hughes(Australia)

Phil Hughes

During the afternoon session of the Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 25 November 2014, Hughes who was batting at 63, was struck in the neck by the ball after missing an attempted hook shot to a bouncer from New South Wales bowler Sean Abbott. Hughes was wearing a helmet, but the ball bowled by Abbott struck an unprotected area just below his left ear.

He collapsed before receiving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and was subsequently taken to St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, where he underwent surgery and was placed into an induced coma. Hughes' injury was a rare but described type of sport-related blunt-force cerebrovascular injury called a vertebral artery dissection which led to subarachnoid hemorrhage. On the morning of November 27, 2014, the doctors declared him dead thus bringing an end to what would have been an illustrious career.

#3 Nathan Bracken (Australia)

Nathan Bracken

Nathan Bracken was a tall left-arm bowler who played 5 Tests, 116 ODIs and 19 T20Is for Australia picking up close to 300 wickets across all three formats of the game. He was once ranked as the number 1 bowler in ODI cricket and also won the Australian ODI Player of the Year in 2009.

But due to chronic knee injuries, he was forced to take retirement from International cricket. He played his last match for Australia at the age of 31 when he his career was blooming. According to him, his injuries were not managed properly by Cricket Australia which ultimately led to the retirement of this great fast bowler. Had he got a chance to play long, he could have done wonders for the Australian team.

#4 Saba Karim (India)

Syed Saba Karim

Syed Saba Karim was an Indian wicketkeeper who played 1 Test and 34 ODIs for India. He could have played longer if not for the injury that he suffered while keeping for India against Bangladesh in a limited-overs match in May 2000.

He was a very good wicketkeeper and had the ability to play for the Indian team for a very long time but fate had something else for him in store. He had to end his career because of an eye injury that he suffered from a ball delivered by Anil Kumble.

#5 Craig Kieswetter (England)

Craig Kieswetter

Craig Kieswetter was an English Player who used to open for the England team in One Day and T20 Internationals. He got a chance to represent his country in 46 One Day and 25 T20 Internationals.

This promising youngster had to forcefully retire from International Cricket owing to an eye injury that he sustained from a bouncer by David Willey while he was playing for his domestic side Somerset. He described that his vision in his right eye was only 80 to 85 percent and thus it was difficult for him to play in floodlit conditions.