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Israeli Cricket Umpire Killed By Ball

By Phil Watson

A general view of a cricket match. (Photo by John Sutton/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.)
A general view of a cricket match. (Photo by John Sutton/This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.) /
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The cricket world was rocked by its second death in three days when an umpire died after being struck by a ball during a match in Israel on Saturday.

For the second time this week, the cricket world is mourning a death from a person being hit by a ball during a match.

During an amateur league match in Ashdod, Israel, Saturday, umpire Hillel Oscar was hit in the neck. He was taken to a hospital in Ashdod, but medical personnel were not able to revive him.

According to the BBC, Oscar was a former captain of Israel’s national cricket team.

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The incident came two days after Australian batsman Phil Hughes died after being hit in the neck by a ball during an Australian league game on Tuesday.

Cricket is not a major sport in Israel, but there is an amateur league mostly filled with players from India, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Umpires in cricket don’t wear helmets. The speculation is that the ball might have ricocheted off some stumps at the end of the pitch where Oscar was positioned.

Such incidents are rare. There was an umpire who died in 2009 after a ball thrown by a fielder hit him in the head during a match in Wales, according to the BBC.

Oscar’s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.

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