List of fatalities while playing cricket

The following is a list of cricket players who died while playing a game, died directly from injuries sustained while playing, or died after being taken ill on the ground.

Player	Cause	Date	Place
Jasper Vinall	Struck on the head by a bat as a result of a double-hit attempt. [1]	28 August 1624	Horsted Keynes, Sussex
Henry Brand	Struck on the head by a bat. Notable for being a similar double-hit to Vinall, which may have resulted in the 1744 codification of the rule. [2]	1647	Selsey, West Sussex.
Frederick, Prince of Wales	Keen on cricket and real tennis, it's been speculated that he died from either a pulmonary embolism or a burst abscess caused by being hit with a ball [3]	20 March 1751	London
James Balchen	"Killed by a cricket ball" [4]	buried 14 June 1764	Godalming, Surrey
George Summers	Struck on the head by a ball bowled by John Platts. [5]	29 June 1870	Nottingham
John Hamilton Plumptre Lighton	Son of Rev. Sir Christopher Lighton, Baronet; struck by a return drive by a batsman [6] [7]	12 July 1872	Repton, Derbyshire
William Jupp	Died after suffering a brain injury during a cricket match. [8]	3 August 1878	Chertsey, Surrey
Claude Wilson	Killed by sunstroke [9]	29 June 1881	Betchworth, Surrey
Lord Fitzroy Somerset	Youngest son of the Duke of Beaufort; collapsed and died of suspected heart failure [10]	23 July 1881	near Tetbury, Gloucestershire
Frederick Randon Sr.	Struck on the head by a ball at Lord's in 1881, from which he never fully recovered, dying in February 1883 [11]	17 February 1883	Hathern, Leicestershire
Frederick Jackman	Collapsed while batting [12]	5 September 1891	Horndean, England
Charles Lane	Struck over the heart by a ball [13]	20 May 1895	Cosme, Paraguay
Arthur Earlam	Struck by a return drive by the batsman [14]	July 1921	Runcorn, Cheshire
Walter Duff	Died of complications from a broken leg during a cricket match. [15]	11 November 1921	Sydney, Australia
Edward Cox	Heart failure while playing cricket [16]	23 July 1925	Holyport, Berkshire, England
William John Griffiths	Struck by a ball in the head when attempting to take a catch during practice resulting in a skull fracture. [17]	16 October 1928	Melbourne, Australia
Max Smith	Struck by a ball (bowled by his younger brother Clive Smith) which deflected into his head. [18]	27 October 1941	Werribee, Australia
Andy Ducat	Heart failure [19]	23 July 1942	London
Tom Killick	Heart problem [20]	18 May 1953	Northampton
Abdul Aziz	Struck over the heart by a ball [21]	17 January 1959	Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Martin Bedkober	Died when hit over the heart by a cricket ball; [22] flatmate of Jeff Thomson	13 December 1975	Brisbane, Queensland
Michael Ainsworth	"Suddenly" [23]	28 August 1978	Hillingdon, London
Wilf Slack	Collapsed while batting [24]	15 January 1989	Banjul, the Gambia
Ian Folley	Heart attack while being treated in hospital for eye injury sustained on the field [25]	30 August 1993	Whitehaven, Cumbria
Raman Lamba	Struck on the head by a ball while fielding [26]	23 February 1998	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mark Lavine	Heart attack [27]	12 May 2001	Coventry, England
Wasim Raja	Suffered a heart attack on the pitch [24] [28]	23 August 2006	Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Darryn Randall	Struck on the head by a ball [24]	27 October 2013	Alice, Eastern Cape
Phillip Hughes	Struck on the neck by a ball during a Sheffield shield match bowled by Sean Abbott [29]	27 November 2014	Sydney, New South Wales
Raymond van Schoor	Stroke [30]	20 November 2015	Windhoek, Namibia
Rajesh Ghodge	Collapsed while playing in a local cricket tournament [31]		Margao, Goa, India
Shyamji Kanojia	Heart attack while fielding during a in a senior veterans cricket match. [32]	3 January 2021	Virar, Mumbai
Ben Austin	Struck on the neck by a ball during practice [33]	28 October 2025	Melbourne, Australia

References

1. McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society. pp.xxxiii–xxxiv.
2. McCann, Tim (2004). Sussex Cricket in the Eighteenth Century. Sussex Record Society. pp.xxxiii–xxxiv. (Available online at the University of Michigan library. Retrieved 2022-04-05.)
3. Cavendish, Richard. "Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales". History Today.
4. www.ancestry.co.uk https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/4790/images/40761_312029-00208?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=e61b351232038c122b686de7e4c04bf2&usePUB=true&_phsrc=XKp511&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.192049642.1517238373.1637392024-166252373.1632151042&pId=1029062 . Retrieved 21 November 2021.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
5. "NCCC News: Nottinghamshire Cricketers Part 7". www.trentbridge.co.uk.
6. "Sad Death of a Baronet's Son" . York Herald. York, Yorkshire. 13 July 1871. p. 11. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
7. "Cricketer". 1921. 13.
8. "Fatal Accident in the Cricket Field". Surrey Times and County Express. 10 August 1878. p. 6. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
9. "Deaths". The Times. No. 30237. London. 4 July 1881. p. 1.
10. "Sudden Death of Lord Fitzroy Somerset" . Bath Chronicle. 28 July 1881. p. 6. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
11. "Famous cricketers: the Randons". www.hathernhistory.co.uk.
12. "Death in the cricket field" . Hampshire Post and Southsea Observer. 11 September 1891. p. 6. Retrieved 6 July 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
13. Evita Burned Down Our Pavilion: A Cricket Odyssey through Latin America
14. "Cricketer". 1. 13. 1921.
15. "A Cricketer's Last Game". Evening News. 21 November 1921. p. 3. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
16. "Colonel Edward Henry Cox" . Western Daily Press . Bristol. 25 July 1925. p. 7. Retrieved 12 November 2023– via British Newspaper Archive.
17. The Argus , "Cricketer And Footballer – Death of W. Griffiths", 18 October 1928. p. 14
18. "Cricket Field Fatality". Werribee Shire Banner. Vic. 30 October 1941. p. 3. Retrieved 3 September 2015– via National Library of Australia.
19. Williamson, Martin (4 December 2004). "Not out ... dead". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
20. "Wisden Obituaries in 1953". ESPN Cricinfo. 4 December 2005. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
21. Haigh, Gideon (2006). Peter The Lord's Cat and Other Unexpected Obituaries from Wisden. London, Eng: John Wisden & Co. p. 16. ISBN   1-84513-163-0.
22. "Queensland Cricket Archive". cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
23. "Wisden Obituaries in 1978". ESPN Cricinfo. 5 December 2005. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
24. "FACTBOX-Cricket-Deaths caused from on-field incidents". Reuters. 27 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016.
25. Powell, Rose (28 November 2014). "Ten fatal cricket injuries before Phillip Hughes died". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
26. "The tragic death of Raman Lamba". Martin Williamson. Cricinfo Magazine, 14 August 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
27. Robinson, Peter (13 May 2001). "North West all-rounder Lavine dies of a heart attack". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2025.
28. "Wasim Raja dies playing cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. 23 August 2006.
29. Staff reporters (27 November 2014). "Phillip Hughes dead: Australian cricketer dies after bouncer at SCG". The Sydney Morning Herald.
30. "Namibian cricketer Raymond van Schoor dies, aged 25, five days after on-field collapse due to stroke". abc.net.au. 21 November 2015.
31. "Former Goa Ranji cricketer Rajesh Ghodge, collapses on field, dies in hospital". India Today. 13 January 2019. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
32. Gaurav Gupta (3 January 2021). "Former Railways cricketer Kanojia dies on ground in Vasai | Cricket News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
33. Convery, S. (2025), "Teenager dies after being hit in neck with cricket ball in Melbourne's east", The Guardian, retrieved 30 October 2025