The Phil Hughes Coronial Inquest: Cricketers Wallow in Contradictory Evidence

hughes-one

Item extracted from The Australian, 13 October 2016

Doug Bollinger allegedly told Matthew Day: “One of my sledges was ‘I am going to kill you. I can’t believe I said that.”

Matthew  Day  told Jason Hughes: “Doug Bollinger told me he sledged them by saying he was going to kill them.”

Jason Hughes told Matthew Day: “Tom Cooper told me the same thing.” 

Tom Cooper:to the Inquest when asked about Bollinger’s comments: “I’m confident it didn’t happen.” 

Doug Bollinger told the inquest: “I know in my heart  didn’t say that.”

David Warner at the inquest: “He wasn’t sledged at all,.”

Sean Abbott at the inquest: “I can’t recall any sledging on the day.” 

Trent Johnston, ex-NSW bowling coach told Matthew Day: “I am struggling with the fact that I was a big part of of the plan that NSW adopted, that was to bowl short to Phil and that eventually ended with him being struck.”

    ***   ***

phil-hughes-22hughes-and-helmet

A THOUGHT: All the NSW cricketers seem to have suffered a collective loss of memory!

A NOTE: their evidence n’less defended “sledging” (an euphemism that covers the range from banter to verbal assault directed at batsmen) as quite a legitimate tactic.

NOTE TWO:  such lines of legitimization glide over the fact that (a) verbal assault as tactic destroys the basic cricketing principle of “a level playing field” because (b) verbal skills in intimidation in the English language are NOT equally distributed among cricketing nations and (c) not every cricketer is nourished in aggressive macho-capacities.

WOW: As dispiriting and despicable is the indications that the evidence given by several umpires and the watching brief pursued by Cricket Australia give one ground to conjecture that there was –and continues to be during the ongoing inquest– an effort to hide the principles of aggression guiding cricketing strategy — a strategy that took especially vicious aim at Phil Hughes because he (a) was turncoat New South Welshman (b) a batsman as obdurate as skilled and (c) already had a half-century under his belt that day.

hughes-baggy-green cap-and-bat-for-hughes

the-hughes-famil-ross-schultz the Hughes family-Pic by Ross Schultz

THE CORONIAL INQUEST plus… still in progress

*   Peter Lalor 2016 “Doug Bollinger on Back foot in Phil Hughes Inquest,” 13 October 2016, https://cricketique.wordpress.com/2016/10/13/doug-bollinger-on-back-foot-in-phil-hughes-inquest/
* ABC News 2016 “Coroner’s Inquiry into the Death of Phil Hughes: Serious Questions, Tears & Standard Fare,” 11 October 2016, https://cricketique.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/coroners-inquiry-into-the-death-of-phil-hughes-serious-questions-tears-standard-fare/ [From] …. ……. …… ………     ………………….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-10/inquest-into-cricketer-phillip-hughes’-death-begins/791697 

 

* THE AUSTRALIAN 2016 “Hughes had ‘unsafe workplace’,”14 October 2016,  http://www.theaustralian.com.au

 

 *  AAPNews 2016 “Matthew Wade elbows Bowler Abbott and faces Code of Conduct Charge,” October 2016, https://cricketique.wordpress.com/2016/10/11/matthew-wade-elbows-bowler-abbott-and-faces-code-of-conduct-charge·

 

*         Daniel Brettig 2016 “Call for Clarification of bouncer Laws at Inquest into Phil Hughes’ Death,” https://cricketique.wordpress.com/2016/10/14/call-for-clarification-of-bouncer-laws-at-inquest-into-the-phil-hughes-death/

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Filed under accountability, Australian culture, australian media, cultural transmission, life stories, meditations, politIcal discourse, self-reflexivity, slanted reportage, the imaginary and the real, trauma, truth as casualty of war, vengeance, violence of language, world affairs

2 responses to “The Phil Hughes Coronial Inquest: Cricketers Wallow in Contradictory Evidence

  1. Pingback: Intimidating Assault Tactics behind Phil-Hughes’ Death by Bouncer | Thuppahi's Blog

  2. Pingback: The ICC is Imbecile: Verbal Assaults permitted within Cricket Field | Thuppahi's Blog

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