pink ball test at Eden Gardens ... .. Concussion substitutes !!

How often would you see a Test that in 30 overs – Ravichandran Ashwin does not get to bowl one ? ~ there was no need for one, as Bangladesh folded to seamers at Eden Garden today in the first Pink ball – day night test. 

Could remember still -  that early morning on 12^th  Jan 1978 as we anxiously listened to the radio – Aussies were reeling under – but whether they could avoid the follow-on ?  -  Peter Toohey 82 pulled Karsan Ghavri and a sprinting Madan lal took a good catch to make it 2-2; Aussies defeated by an innings and 2 runs at Sydney.  Those were the days when substitutes cannot stand in close-in and in Specialist positions and a commentator remarked that way, Madan Lal should not be allowed anywhere in the field as substitute !!

It was 1975 – Prudential world Cup – the first ever limited Over tournament for men.. Sri Lanka and East Africa were the new entrants.   Put into bat,  Australians piled on 328 for 5. In reply, Sri Lanka had a flying start,  reached 150 for 2 in the 32^nd  over.  They could survive the opening fire of Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee but – the second spell was of a different game plan. Then … that bloodbath occurred.. .. Sunil Wettimuny would certainly love forgetting that fear created by Jeff Thomson, arguably the fastest bowler to draw breath.   In his opening spell Thomson hit Wettimuny twice in the inner thigh, and also delivered a cracking blow to the hip bone and a crunching hit to the ribcage.  Mendis  played a couple of Thommo's deliveries, after which the fast man let fly.  One flyer  hit him squarely on the forehead. He staggered and fell heavily to the crease and had to be carried off the  ground on a stretcher. Thommo was booed by the crowd as the Sri Lankan captain, Anura Tennekoon, slowly ambled to the crease.  In one instance after hitting Wettimuny and with bastman hopping about in pain, Thommo tried to run him out too.

.. .. .. .. there have been many injuries on the field and some imposed with fear ! ~ and there was that blood spill at Sabina Park in 1976

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). It can occur after an impact to one’s head or after a whiplash-type injury that causes one’s  head and brain to shake quickly back and forth. A concussion results in an altered mental state that may include becoming unconscious.  Anyone can become injured during a fall, car accident, or any other daily activity. Concussions, generally  are  not life-threatening, but they can cause serious symptoms that require medical treatment.   Leading neurologists have called for more research into women and concussion in an effort to aid the recovery of sportswomen who have sustained a mild traumatic brain injury.  The differences in post-concussive recoveries between men and women were laid bare in a special report by Telegraph Sport, which underlined how female brain cells were at greater risk of degeneration from a head injury trauma than male brain cells.It also shed light on how women are more susceptible to prolonged post-concussive recovery lengths, highlighting the case of Britain's Olympic hockey gold medallist Nicola White, who has been unable to return to the pitch 20 months after suffering a concussion

ICC Playing Conditions

1.2.8.1 In assessing whether the nominated Concussion Replacement should be considered a like-for-like player, the ICC Match Referee should consider the likely role the concussed player would have played during the remainder of the match, and the normal role that would be performed by the nominated Concussion Replacement.

1.2.8.2 If the ICC Match Referee believes that the inclusion of the nominated Concussion Replacement, when performing their normal role, would excessively advantage their team, the Match Referee may impose such conditions upon the identity and involvement of the Concussion Replacement as he/she sees fit, in line with the overriding objective of facilitating a like-for-like replacement for the concussed player.

~ wonder what .. in Aug 2019,   –  a top order batsman who can bowl some handy legspin, South African-born Marnus Labuschagne became part of history -  No one in the 142-year history of Test match cricket had done what Marnus Labuschagne managed on day five at Lord's in 2019.  Steve Smith was injured.  The official notification by the Australian team to the ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle, Smith's symptoms were described as "headache, dizziness, feeling slowed down, feeling in a fog, don't feel right, drowsiness". "As part of the Cricket Australia concussion protocol, repeat concussion testing of Steve Smith was also performed this morning and demonstrated some deterioration from his testing which is consistent.  "On that basis Steve was  withdrawn from the match by team doctor Richard Saw and the first concussion substitute came on to the field and batted.

A player is no longer under pressure to take the field when he or she displays symptoms of concussion and a side is not disadvantaged having lost a player to a blow to the head or neck. Each of the ICC, CA and the ECB have their own concussion policies, but all stress the need for caution in dealing with potential or actual concussion cases.  Steven Smith was replaced by Marnus Labuschagne after being hit on the head by Jofra Archer. A few days later, in the Caribbean, Darren Bravo took a blow from Jasprit Bumrah and Jermaine Blackwood took his place. In October, Dean Elgar found himself in need of this rule after being struck by Umesh Yadav, which brought Theunis de Bruyn into the game. Now  New Zealand's Tom Blundell is on standby for Henry Nicholls, currently playing a Test against England.

At Eden Gardens, Kolkatta, in the first pink ball daty – night test – India was 174 for 3 (Kohli 59*, Rahane 23*) lead Bangladesh 106 (Shadman 29, Ishant 5-22) by 68 runs. The visitors were troubled and blown off by Indian pacers, more specifically Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav.    Two men went down with concussions. Ishant Sharma took his first home five-for in 12 years. Only the fourth time that fast bowlers took all ten for India in India.  Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli then scored fifties to entertain the night-time crowd. Close to 50, 000 spectators turned up at Eden Gardens.

Bangladesh had to use two concussion substitutes after Liton Das and Nayeem Hasan were hit on the helmet by Mohammed Shami. The visitors' choice of replacements though put their planning for this series in bad light because they had no specialist batsmen in reserve despite two players in the original squad going unavailable well before the start of this match.  While there was one bowler for bowler swap with Taijul Islam taking Nayeem's place, Mehidy Hasan, a specialist spinner, took over from Liton, a wicketkeeper batsman, meaning he cannot bowl for the entire duration of the game. As per the ICC Playing Conditions, a concussion substitute has to be a like-for-like replacement and perform the same role as that of the concussed player. Both Liton and Nayeem have gone to the hospital for scans. It is unclear why the BCB didn't call in replacements considering both Saif Hassan and Mosaddek Hossain were ruled out long before day one of the Eden Gardens Test.

Contractor led India to a series win against England in 1961–62 and captained the side to Caribbean the same season. There, in a tour match against Barbados at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, in March 1962, he was on 2 not out while opening the batting with Dilip Sardesai during his side's first innings,  he was badly injured by the delivery of  Charlie Griffith.  Contractor was hit  at the back of his skull fracturing it. A blood clot had developed inside his skull and pressing against the brain paralyzing him from the waist down. Two surgeries were performed to remove the clot. Requiring blood transfusion for the purpose, the West Indies captain Frank Worrell donated blood, alongside Contractor's teammates Chandu Borde, Bapu Nadkarni and Polly Umrigar.  Contractor's life was saved but his international career was abruptly ended as a result.  Nariman Jamshedji "Nari" Contractor  as a left-handed opening batsman, was born in Godhra, Gujarat.

Now getting back to ‘substitutes’ in Cricket – there was a time when there was a rule that substitute fielders would not be allowed in specialist positions and substitution for Wicket keeper was not allowed !   Way back in 1986 in the second Test at Leeds, Raman Lamba was in  as a substitute fielder to Krishnamachari Srikkanth.  A few overs later -  Srikkanth arrived on the field. None alerted .. and the commentator was heard screaming – ‘5 men on the On and 5 on the Off’ – what sounds strange ! – hey there are 12 of them on the field ! – that was for an entire over of Ravi Shastri.  

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

22^nd Nov. 2019