A steep rising bouncer from Mitchell Starc left South Australia batsman Callum Ferguson ruffled though unhurt on the second day of their Sheffield match played at the Adelaide Oval. Although this episode caused no damage to Callum, it must have certainly revived horrendous memories of the freak death of Phil Hughes. Having been struck, the players including Australian regulars Mitchell Starc and Dave Warner rushed to the aid of the batsman to check whether all was well with him, which luckily was the case.
The impact of the blow was so severe that the attachment piece of the Stem guard helmet went flying in the air with the initial impact appearing to be on the grille.
However soon after a short break after this event Starc continued in the same vein of delivering of barrage of fast and nasty short pitched deliveries in pursuit of quick wickets. On further revelations it was understood that the protective cladding was deformed to a great extent. It is also believed that a decently quick delivery bowled by a pacer is capable of generating forces of such high magnitude that the piece attached to the helmet on point of impact simply detaches itself from the helmet.
The authorities of Cricket Australia have taken note of this event and are going to have a discussion with Masuri-the helmet manufacturers and look for modifications to minimize mishaps and events of similar nature in the near future.
