PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies batsman Lendl Simmons says the tragic death of Australian Phil Hughes has resulted in reflection inside the Red Force camp.
Hughes, a 25-year-old Test batsman, died Thursday two days after being struck in the head by a bouncer during a domestic game in Sydney.
“It is a very sad case, I could not believe it when I got the news,” Simmons told the Trinidad Express newspaper.
“It could happen to anybody. It is not that he got hit in his head, he got hit in his neck and there is no protection for your neck when you go out to bat and someone is bowling 90 miles per hour.”
He added: “It is a big loss for the cricketing world, he was a bright prospect – he had three centuries already and he was a very promising cricketer. Players in practice were talking about it and yes they will be mindful about it but it is something that can happen to anyone at any time.
“We will play our natural game. It can happen to anyone, not just when you are batting but when you are fielding as well.”
Simmons is the nephew of former T&T and West Indies opener Phil Simmons who was forced to undergo emergency brain surgery in 1988 after being struck in the head by a bouncer from David Lawrence while playing in Bristol.