{"id":234839,"date":"2025-10-30T22:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T22:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/234839\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T22:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T22:41:10","slug":"horrific-news-kevin-pietersen-leads-tributes-after-17-year-old-dies-while-playing-cricket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/234839\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Horrific news’ – Kevin Pietersen leads tributes after 17-year-old dies while playing cricket"},"content":{"rendered":"

A teenage cricketer has died after being struck by a cricket ball during a practice session.<\/p>\n

Ben Austin, 17, had been in the nets during a session in Ferntree Gully, Melbourne on Tuesday when he was hit in the neck by a ball.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Teenage cricketer Ben died after being struck in the neck by a ball during a practice sessionCredit: instagram @cricketaustralia<\/p>\n

The ball had been thrown using a handheld ball launcher.<\/p>\n

Ben had been wearing a helmet but no neck guard whilst training in the nets.<\/p>\n

After emergency workers attended the scene, Ben was taken to hospital in a critical condition.<\/p>\n

He was put on life support after arriving in hospital but sadly passed away on Thursday.<\/p>\n

In a statement, his dad Jace Austin said: “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.<\/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<\/a> and it was one of the joys of his life.”<\/p>\n

He added that the family were also supporting Ben’s team-mate who had been bowling to him in the nets.<\/p>\n

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

Tributes paid to teenage cricketer<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Cricket Victoria have also sent their condolences to the family as tributes flooded in from the world of cricket.<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Kevin Pietersen is amongst the cricketing figures to pay tribute to BenCredit: Getty Images – Getty<\/p>\n

Chief executive officer Nick 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

Former England<\/a> batsman Kevin Pietersen<\/a> also paid tribute to Ben on social media.<\/p>\n

He wrote on X: “Horrific news of a young 17-year-old boy who got struck by a cricket ball in the nets yesterday in Melbourne and sadly passed away.<\/p>\n

“Thoughts with all his family and friends. Cricket family.”<\/p>\n

Ben played for local side Ferntree Gully Cricket Club as well as being a member of the Waverley Park Hawks Junior Football Club.<\/p>\n

Both teams paid tribute to him in separate statements as Ferntree Gully urged supporters to ‘put your bats out for Benny’.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes died in 2014 after being struck in the neck during a matchCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The tribute is a similar gesture to one made following the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes in 2014.<\/p>\n

What happened to Phillip Hughes?<\/p>\n

Hughes died after being struck on the neck by a ball whilst batting in a match between South Australia and New South Wales at Sydney Cricket Ground.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old was placed in an induced coma after the incident but sadly passed away two days later.<\/p>\n

He had been wearing a helmet when attempting a hook shot to a bouncer from New South Wales’ Sean Abbott.<\/p>\n

However, the ball struck below his left ear in an area which the helmet did not protect.<\/p>\n

New designs have since been produced with additional guards and protection attached to the back of helmets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A teenage cricketer has died after being struck by a cricket ball during a practice session. Ben Austin,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[99233,1721,8110,99518,19026,98850,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-234839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-ben-austin","9":"tag-cricket","10":"tag-cricket-australia","11":"tag-cricket-victoria","12":"tag-kevin-pietersen","13":"tag-phillip-hughes","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234839","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=234839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}