Video: Cricket injuries and Dangerous fast bowling

Cricket has traditionally always been the batsman’s game, but the bowlers do enjoy getting the better of the batsman from time to time. Speedsters like Brett Lee, Shawn Tait and Shoaib Akhtar have tormented batsmen around the world with their express pace, and this makes for a much more even contest between bat and ball.

In this collection of clips, we show you various instances of bowlers steaming in to the crease and taking out the batsmen with devastating pace. Take a look at Shaun Tait knocking out the ever dependable AB de Villiers with sheer pace, or Brett Lee hitting Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s helmet with one of his classic deliveries. Even the reliable technique of Sanath Jayasuriya had no answer to scorching pace, while Candian batsman Zubin Surkari was treated to speeds he must have never faced before in first class cricket. And injuries are often a case of batsman not wearing helmets, or using guards, or sometimes just a case of being caught offguard by the element of surprise.

Even the Bengal tiger Sourav Ganguly was struck in the rib cage by a Shoaib Aakhtar delivery that would have knocked out the best in the business. Be it Nathan Astle, Ricky Ponting, or the flamboyant Kevin Petersen, every batsman has been softened up by the combination of pace and the element of surprise.

And it’s not just the batsman who have been found on the receiving end of dangerous play. Even bowlers have suffered numerous injuries due to the ball striking them from close range, allowing less reaction time. The Zimbabwean bowler shown in this clip had little or no reaction time to react to the shot, and suffered a nasty injury. Indian fans would remember our very own Ravichandran Ashwin injuring himself in an IPL match.

Sporting pitches allow a fair contest between bat and ball, and there’s nothing more a cricket fan hopes for.