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.

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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.[1]	1647	Selsey, West Sussex.
John Boots	Killed while batting. He collided with his partner whilst going for a run. Both men were knocked down but got up again, only for Boots to drop down dead as he was running to his wicket.[2][3]	31 May 1737	Newick, 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[4]	20 March 1751	London
James Balchen	"Killed by a cricket ball"[5]	buried 14 June 1764	Godalming, Surrey
George Summers	Struck on the head by a ball bowled by John Platts.[6]	29 June 1870	Nottingham
John Hamilton Plumptre Lighton	Son of Rev. Sir Christopher Lighton, Baronet; struck by a return drive by a batsman[7][8]	12 July 1872	Repton, Derbyshire
William Jupp	Died after suffering a brain injury during a cricket match.[9]	3 August 1878	Chertsey, Surrey
Claude Wilson	Killed by sunstroke[10]	29 June 1881	Betchworth, Surrey
Lord Fitzroy Somerset	Youngest son of the Duke of Beaufort; collapsed and died of suspected heart failure[11]	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[12]	17 February 1883	Hathern, Leicestershire
Frederick Jackman	Collapsed while batting[13]	5 September 1891	Horndean, England
Charles Lane	Struck over the heart by a ball[14]	20 May 1895	Cosme, Paraguay
Arthur Earlam	Struck by a return drive by the batsman[15]	July 1921	Runcorn, Cheshire
Walter Duff	Died of complications from a broken leg during a cricket match.[16]	11 November 1921	Sydney, Australia
Edward Cox	Heart failure while playing cricket[17]	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.[18]	16 October 1928	Melbourne, Australia
Max Smith	Struck by a ball (bowled by his younger brother Clive Smith) which deflected into his head.[19]	27 October 1941	Werribee, Australia
Andy Ducat	Heart failure[20]	23 July 1942	London
Tom Killick	Heart problem[21]	18 May 1953	Northampton
Abdul Aziz	Struck over the heart by a ball[22]	17 January 1959	Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Martin Bedkober	Died when hit over the heart by a cricket ball;[23] flatmate of Jeff Thomson	13 December 1975	Brisbane, Queensland
Michael Ainsworth	"Suddenly"[24]	28 August 1978	Hillingdon, London
Wilf Slack	Collapsed while batting[25]	15 January 1989	Banjul, the Gambia
Ian Folley	Heart attack while being treated in hospital for eye injury sustained on the field[26]	30 August 1993	Whitehaven, Cumbria
Raman Lamba	Struck on the head by a ball while fielding[27]	23 February 1998	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Mark Lavine	Heart attack[28]	12 May 2001	Coventry, England
Wasim Raja	Suffered a heart attack on the pitch[25][29]	23 August 2006	Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Darryn Randall	Struck on the head by a ball[25]	27 October 2013	Alice, Eastern Cape
Phillip Hughes	Struck on the neck by a ball during a Sheffield shield match bowled by Sean Abbott[30]	27 November 2014	Sydney, New South Wales
Raymond van Schoor	Stroke[31]	20 November 2015	Windhoek, Namibia
Rajesh Ghodge	Collapsed while playing in a local cricket tournament[32]		Margao, Goa, India
Shyamji Kanojia	Heart attack while fielding during a in a senior veterans cricket match.[33]	3 January 2021	Virar, Mumbai
Ben Austin	Struck on the neck by a ball during practice[34]	28 October 2025	Melbourne, Australia

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