{"id":233482,"date":"2025-10-30T06:36:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T06:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233482\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T06:36:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T06:36:08","slug":"teenage-cricketer-dies-in-melbourne-after-being-hit-by-ball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/233482\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenage cricketer dies in Melbourne after being hit by ball"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a statement, Jace Austin shared details of his family’s loss. <\/p>\n

“For Tracey and I, Ben was an adored son, deeply loved brother to Cooper and Zach and a shining light in the lives of our family and friends,” he said. <\/p>\n

“This tragedy has taken Ben from us, but we find some comfort that he was doing something he did for so many summers – going down to the nets with mates to play cricket.<\/p>\n

“He loved cricket and it was one of the joys of his life.”<\/p>\n

Mr Austin said the family was also supporting Ben’s teammate who was bowling in the nets when the accident happened.<\/p>\n

“This accident has impacted two young men and our thoughts are with he and his family as well,” he said.<\/p>\n

He also thanked the local cricketing community for their support since the accident and praised the first responders and medical staff who helped his son. <\/p>\n

Cricket Victoria chief executive officer Nick Cummins said it was an “extremely challenging time” for all involved.<\/p>\n

“The ball hit him in the neck in a similar accident that Phil Hughes suffered 10 years ago,” Mr Cummins said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).<\/p>\n

In 2014, Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes died after being struck on the neck<\/a> by a ball while batting in the Sheffield Shield in 2014.<\/p>\n

His death, for which a coroner ultimately found no-one was to blame, sparked improvements to safety equipment for those playing the sport.<\/p>\n

The ball that hit Ben was apparently launched by a thrower using a handheld device, commonly used to accelerate the speed of the ball and ease the strain of bowling on the shoulders.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Cummins said: “The entire cricketing community in Victoria – and nationally – is mourning this loss and it will be something that will stay with us for a long time.”<\/p>\n

He described Ben as a talented player, popular teammate and captain who was well- known in under-18 circles in Melbourne’s south east.<\/p>\n

“It is heartbreaking to see a young life cut so short, while Ben was doing something that he loved so much,” Mr Cummins said. <\/p>\n

Ben played for the Ferntree Gully Cricket Club who, in a social media post, paid tribute to the youngster as someone who brought joy to many. <\/p>\n

The club also called on friends and supporters to “put your bats out for Benny”, mirroring a similar gesture that was made for Hughes.<\/p>\n

The Waverley Park Hawks Junior Football Club, for which Ben played more than 100 games, said he was “kind”, “respectful” and a “fantastic footballer”.<\/p>\n

“Our club and community have lost a truly great young person who was developing into a fine young adult and his loss will be felt keenly by our club for many years to come.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a statement, Jace Austin shared details of his family’s loss. “For Tracey and I, Ben was an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-233482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}