The untimely and unusual death of a cricket umpire in Wales has brought back tragic memories for the late Raman Lamba's family.

By Bipin Dani

"Yes, it has refreshed our sad memory and our condolences are with the umpire's family", Rajesh Lamba, Raman’s brother said from Delhi. "We can very well understand what a family undergoes after such a tragic death".
 
Lamba, a former Indian Test player died ten years ago in a Dhaka hospital, aged 38. Three days earlier he had been hit on the temple while fielding, without a helmet, at short leg in front of a substantial crowd during a match between Lamba's club Abahani and Mohammedan at the Bangabandhu Stadium.

Lamba had only moved in from the outfield for that delivery and it was reported that he had already signaled for a helmet.

Reliving the horror

Batsman Mehrab Hossain hit the ball very hard and initially Lamba walked off the field and the injury did not appear too serious, but he suffered an internal hemorrhage and his condition soon worsened dramatically. A neurosurgeon was flown in from Delhi but it was already too late. The news caused widespread grief in both India and Bangladesh.
 
Only two other cricketers are known to have died as a result of on-field injuries in a first-class fixture. Both were hit while batting: George Summers of Nottinghamshire on the head at Lord's in 1870; and Abdul Aziz, the Karachi wicket-keeper, over the heart in the 1958-59 Quaid-e-Azam final. The last first-class cricketer to die after being hit in any match was Ian Folley of Lancashire, playing for Whitehaven in 1993.
 
"Sportsmen go to field to do a good job and entertain the crowd but such tragic incidents do cause problems for their wives and children", Rajesh, himself an ex-soccer player added. His father died some 18 months ago.

Rajesh was not sure whether his late brother's widow and two children (daughter 18 and son 15) are being benefited by the BCCI's pension scheme. "They now live in Ireland and we have no contacts with them", he said.
 
"We have been paying 2000 players every month and don't recall now whether the pension money goes to Ireland", the BCCI treasurer Mohinder Pandove said from Chandigardh. "However, we do send pensions to Buddhi Kundran's wife in England and Subhash Gupte's family in West Indies", the treasurer added.