Teammate recalls 'sickening' Voges blow

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Western Australia batsman Ashton Turner says he felt sick after watching his skipper Adam Voges laid low by a short-pitched delivery during the Sheffield Shield clash with Tasmania at the WACA Ground on Thursday.

Voges was concussed and forced to retire hurt on 16 after being struck while trying to evade a bouncer from Tigers paceman Cameron Stevenson.

Turner was at the non-striker's end when Voges got hit, and he said he was immediately worried.

"It's pretty sickening really. You don't like seeing anyone get hit in the head, especially after the last few years," Turner said.

"Vogesy is one of the toughest sportsmen I've ever come across. And when he hits the deck, you know something's wrong.

"I knew pretty much straight away that we needed some help out here.

"It was just lucky he stayed on his hands and knees and he didn't collapse. That's what I was worried about."

 

Report & Highlights: WA bat first against Tasmania

It’s the second time this year that Voges has been struck on the head, after he was hit in the back of the head by an errant throw while fielding in the slips playing for Middlesex in county cricket in May.

Under England and Wales Cricket Board guidelines, he was ruled out of the remaining three days of the fixture, leaving Middlesex without their captain for most of the match.

Voges had been hoping for a big score in order to help his case for retention in Australia's Test side for the third Commonwealth Bank Test against South Africa next week.

The right-hander has posted scores of 27, 1, 0 and 2 so far in the series against the Proteas and could be forced out of the side for the final match of the series, with selectors indicating significant team changes are on the cards.

Despite his recent low scores, Voges still averages 61.87 from 20 Tests, with five centuries, two of which were doubles.

Turner put the incident aside to score his maiden Shield ton.

The 23-year-old cracked 17 fours and two sixes on the way to his 110 off 144 balls.

WA were 4-40 at one stage, but Turner's knock helped them reach a competitive 9-262.

In reply, Tasmania were 2-60 at stumps on day one, with former Test batsman Alex Doolan on 18, and nightwatchman Jackson Bird on six.

Turner said he needed to put Voges' head knock to the back of his mind in order to concentrate on helping WA post a competitive total.

"When I had to face up after Adam got hit – if it's at the forefront of your mind, you're in struggle town and it's going to affect your batting," Turner said.

"So you've got to try to put that to the back of your mind and concentrate on the way you're trained to play, and stick to your game plan."

Turner felt like he had finally got the monkey off his back after scoring his first Shield century in his 16th first-class match.

Voges didn't require hospital attention, but will be managed carefully under Cricket Australia's Concussion and Head Trauma policy.

Under that policy, he must be completely free of any symptoms of the concussion for at least 24 hours, and successfully complete the concussion tests conducted by team medical staff. Then he will be able to make graduated progression back to playing activity.

Cricket Australia this year introduced concussion substitutes for all domestic one-day and T20 matches, but the new rule doesn't apply for Shield matches as a match would lose its first-class status if substitutes were allowed.

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