Anderson recalls near miss after county blow

In the aftermath of Nottinghamshire fast bowler Luke Fletcher's "sickening" head injury, England quick Jimmy Anderson has revealed a close call of his own while bowling to powerful Australia opener Matthew Hayden a decade ago.

Fletcher was ruled out for the remainder of the county season after being struck on the head in his follow through while bowling in a domestic T20 against Warwickshire on Saturday.

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The blow has reignited debate about the introduction of concussion substitutes in elite cricket, while the safety of bowlers, especially in the crash-and-bash of T20 cricket, has also come into focus.

Anderson, who's set to lead England's bowling attack in the second Test against South Africa beginning Friday, recalled how close he came to suffering a similar injury to Fletcher's in a 2007 T20 against Australia at the SCG.

"It was sickening to watch Luke Fletcher being hit on the head by a ball smashed straight back at him," the 123-Test veteran wrote in his column for UK newspaper The Telegraph. 

"All the bowlers I have spoken to since seeing it have said that it was only a matter of time before it happened to someone and they were just praying it wasn’t them.

"I remember playing a Twenty20 game in Australia in 2007 and Matthew Hayden smacked one back at me. 

"My head goes down as I follow through and as I looked up I just saw this white flash pass about an inch from the side of my head. 

"If it had been a touch straighter I would not have had time to react and who knows what could have happened. 

"That was a decade ago and since then the hitting in Twenty20 has become absolutely ridiculous."

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The Telegraph also reported this week the England and Wales Cricket Board are testing protective head-wear for umpires and coaches, and potentially bowlers. 

Anderson believes Fletcher's injury could see protective skullcaps soon become commonplace for bowlers in T20 cricket. 

"It is scary when bowling how hard batsmen hit it now," he continued.

"The result is I think Twenty20 bowlers will be thinking about wearing a skullcap because of the danger. 

"You don’t need one in a Test match but in Twenty20, when the batsman is looking to come after you, it is a different matter and makes sense. 

"What has happened to Luke has heightened awareness around the safety of bowlers."

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Cricket Australia has confirmed concussion substitutes will likely feature in all domestic competitions next summer after the International Cricket Council's cricket committee in May gave the green light for them to be trialled in first-class cricket for a two-year period.

"Cricket Australia welcomes the ICC committee decision on concussion substitutes," a CA spokesperson said in May.

"We applied to the committee to have the rule changed and we look forward to trialling this in all our domestic competitions in 2017/18, once we have the approval of CA's playing conditions committee."

Several concussion-related incidents involving batsmen and wicketkeepers last summer brought the issue of allowing substitutes for players with head injuries into the public's attention.

Young opener Matthew Renshaw was ruled out of the third Test against Pakistan in January and was unable to be replaced, while Victoria wicketkeeper Sam Harper suffered the same consequence in a Sheffield Shield match the following month.

Replacements were permitted in Australian domestic limited-overs formats last summer, with NSW batsman Daniel Hughes becoming the first player to be subbed out due to a concussion in a one-day match for NSW in October.

"The more examples we have of this, the more common it is, the more pressure there will be on the ICC to do something about a concussion sub," Australia team doctor Peter Brukner said after Renshaw was ruled out of the Sydney Test.

"The concern we have is there's a tendency for the player and coaches and so on to want to continue, because they don't want to let the team down.

"It would be helpful in that regard if we had a sub, it would make it easier to pull players out with a concussion. 

"We introduced it in the non-first-class cricket in Australia and it seemed to be successful."