- Title: SPORTS-YEAR-ENDER PT4 Sports year-ender part four - Various sports
- Date: 1st December 2014
- Summary: LISBON, PORTUGAL (FILE - JANUARY 6, 2014) (REUTERS) PLINTH IN MIDDLE OF PITCH WHERE EUSEBIO'S COFFIN WILL BE PLACED COFFIN BEING LIFTED OUT OF HEARSE FANS APPLAUDING AND LETTING OFF RED FLARES COFFIN BEING PLACED ON PLINTH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PITCH OFFICIALS, FAMILY AND FRIENDS CLAPPING COFFIN SITTING ON PLINTH IN MIDDLE OF PITCH FANS CHEERING AND A LARGE, WHITE FLAG IS HELD UP WITH THE FACE OF EUSEBIO EMBLAZONED UPON IT
- Embargoed: 16th December 2014 12:00
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- Story Text: ATHLETICS
South African Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison for the negligent killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day 2013.
Pistorius, whose lower legs were amputated as a baby and who was long admired as an inspiration for disabled people, was convicted of culpable homicide for the shooting of Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, at his luxury home. Pistorius said he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder.
Steenkamp was killed almost instantly when Pistorius fired four shots through a bathroom door at his luxury Pretoria home.
Pistorius' defence lawyer Barry Roux said he expected the jailed athlete to serve only 10 months of the five-year sentence behind bars, and the remainder under house arrest.
Prosecutors failed to prove murder after the athlete said he fired in the mistaken belief an intruder was hiding behind the door, a defence that struck a chord with many people in a country with one of the world's highest rates of violent crime.
However, Judge Thokozile Masipa's decision drew criticism from some legal experts who said she had made an error in her interpretation of the legal concept of 'dolus eventualis', whereby a person is held accountable for the foreseeable consequences of their actions.
Other lawyers said her verdict was sound.
A week after the sentence South Africa's state prosecutors said they would appeal the culpable homicide conviction and jail sentence.
In South Africa, an appeal by the state against a verdict can only be made on a matter of law, and does not involve a retrial or the submission of any new evidence.
The athlete, known as 'Blade Runner' because of his carbon-fibre prosthetics, became one of the biggest names in world athletics at the London 2012 Olympics when he reached the semi-finals of the 400m against able-bodied athletes.
American swimmer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, was suspended for six months by USA Swimming following an arrest on a drunken driving charge.
Phelps, who returned to top-level competition in 2014 after a two-year retirement, will also not be allowed to represent the United States at the 2015 FINA World Swimming Championships in Russia next August, USA Swimming said in a statement.
The arrest marked the second time the 29-year-old Baltimore-area native had been arrested for drunken driving, the first being in 2004.
In the first case, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of driving while impaired in exchange for 18 months' probation.
Kenya's Dennis Kimetto smashed the marathon world record in Berlin, Germany, winning the race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds.
Both Kimetto and second-placed Emmanuel Mutai broke the previous world record which was set by Kenya's Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich in last year's Berlin marathon.
Kimetto's race-winning time sliced 26 seconds from Kiprotich's world record and became the first man to complete the race in less than two hours, three minutes and set the second consecutive world record in Berlin, considered the world's fastest marathon course.
Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie set a new world record of 6.16 metres at an indoor meeting in Donetsk, beating the 21-year-old mark of one of the locals and a spectator on the night, Sergei Bubka.
The Frenchman set the record on his first attempt, beating former Olympic champion Bubka's mark by one centimetre.
The Ukrainian also set the outdoor record of 6.14m, while Lavillenie has only recorded 6.02m, but in pole vault the mark can be set in or out.
CYCLING
Vincenzo Nibali became the first Italian to win the Tour de France since the late Marco Pantani, dominating his rivals on all terrains as his main rivals crashed out of a superb three-week race.
Italian fans celebrated their seventh Tour winner on the Champs-Elysees, waving flags and banners to support their rider.
Nibali beat Frenchmen Jean-Christophe Peraud by 7 minutes 37 seconds and Thibaut Pinot by 8:15 to become the sixth man to win all three grand tours after Belgian Eddy Merckx, Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault, Italian Felice Gimondi and Spaniard Alberto Contador.
British fans were left disappointed after 2013 winner Chris Froome of the Britain's Team Sky crashed out of this year's race.
U.S. SPORT
The San Francisco Giants rode workhorse left-hander Madison Bumgarner all the way to their third World Series crown in five years with a Game Seven victory over the Kansas City Royals.
Ace starter Bumgarner worked his magic as a reliever this time, coming out of the bullpen to throw five shutout innings and earn the save in a 3-2 win that clinched the best-of-seven Fall Classic.
It was the eighth World Series title for the Giants and third in five seasons after victories in 2010 and 2012.
Michael Morse drove in a pair of runs and Bumgarner, named Most Valuable Player of the World Series, dazzled the Royals once again despite returning to the mound on two days rest after throwing a 117-pitch shutout against them.
A raucous Kauffman Stadium and history were on the Royals' side ahead of the game, as home teams had won the last nine World Series that went to a Game Seven, including the 1985 Royals.
But the visiting Giants, who were hammered 10-0 in Game Six, bounced back to become the first road team to win a World Series Game Seven since the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates.
Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka signed a seven-year, $155 million (USD) deal to join the New York Yankees, making the Japanese ace the fifth highest paid pitcher in all of Major League Baseball.
The total cost of the deal was $175 million with the Yankees also paying out a $20 million posting fee to his former-Japanese league club and includes an opt-out clause that Tanaka can exercise after the fourth year.
Tanaka will receive an annual salary of just over $22 million making him the highest paid Japanese import of all-time in MLB.
The 25-year-old becomes the seventh player born in Japan to wear the famed Yankee pinstripes, joining Hideki Irabu (1997-99), Hideki Matsui (2003-09), Kei Igawa (2007-08), Hiroki Kuroda (2012-13), Ryota Igarashi (2012) and Ichiro Suzuki (2012-13).
The retirement of Derek Jeter at the close of the 2014 MLB season signalled the end of an era after his 20-year career with the New York Yankees.
Jeter was the last connection to the Yankees' stellar run of four World Series titles in five years from 1996. He and already-retired team mates Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada -- known collectively as the 'Core Four' -- added a fifth Fall Classic ring in 2009.
The Seattle Seahawks' ferocious defence shut down the Denver Broncos and record-setting quarterback Peyton Manning in a 43-8 rout to claim their first Super Bowl title.
Seattle, the NFL's top-ranked defence, throttled Manning, who had set NFL records for most touchdown passes and yards passing in a single season.
The win gave the Seahawks their first Super Bowl crown in their 37 seasons.
The Most Valuable Player award was given to linebacker Malcolm Smith, who also intercepted the last-gasp pass by San Francisco in their NFC title game off a deflection by Richard Sherman.
The San Antonio Spurs delivered a decisive end to LeBron James' two-year reign atop the basketball world by routing the Miami Heat to win the NBA Finals four games to one.
Los Angeles Kings reclaimed the Stanley Cup with a thrilling double overtime win over the New York Rangers that capped one of the most remarkable postseasons in National Hockey League history.
With both teams close to exhaustion and fans inside roaring themselves hoarse during an epic slugfest, the Kings sealed a 4-1 series victory by winning Game Five 3-2, the winning goal came courtesy of defenseman Alec Martinez almost 15 minutes into the second period of overtime.
While the series scoreline suggested the Kings romped to victory in the final, three of their four wins were decided in overtime and they overcame incredible odds just to make the final, winning each of their first three rounds in seven games.
BASKETBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
The United States romped to their fifth basketball World Cup title after overcoming an early deficit to overwhelm the tournament's surprise package Serbia 129-92 in a one-sided final.
An athletic U.S. team, missing top NBA players such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant, finished the tournament in grand style with a 9-0 record to retain the title they won in Istanbul in 2010.
The Balkan nation will have had no regrets though after securing their first World Cup podium finish as an independent nation, having also won the 2009 European championship silver medal.
WINTER OLYMPICS
For the previous seven years critics lined up to paint the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as a wasteful extravagance. A $50 billion pet project designed purely to allow President Vladimir Putin to show off modern Russia's might.
Certainly the price tag was enormous, there can be no argument about that. And Putin did successfully use the Games to showcase feats of engineering and architecture; building an entire resort from the ground up.
On a personal level, Russia's leader revealed a different side, launching a charm offensive by visiting the United States team at USA House, drinking a glass of red wine with American officials.
Security, a hot topic before the Games, was sure-handed but softly, softly; and athletes and visitors showered the Games with praise.
There were a handful of protests -- most notably by all-women protest group Pussy Riot which ended in a scuffle in which Cossacks struck out with whips -- but overall relatively few dissenting voices despite the widespread criticism of costs, human rights and corruption claims in the buildup.
A Ukrainian athlete pulled out in protest at her president's handling of protests in Kiev, and when the women's biathletes won relay gold there was raw emotion - brief, yet uncomfortable reminders of the role neighbouring Russia had played in a crisis that claimed 82 lives as the Games went on.
On balance the Sochi Games proved to be an effective, if stupendously expensive, advertisement for Putin's Russia.
It certainly helped that Russia topped the medal standings, whatever way you looked at it, by golds or by total medals.
Staffed by an unmistakable army of volunteers dressed in psychedelic, multi-coloured clothing created by Russian design house Bosco, Sochi 2014 has been a kaleidoscope of sport - a fortnight of jumps and trails, and of puppy-dog tales.
It was a glimpse of an exciting new Olympics, one designed to appeal to a younger generation with new, edgy disciplines, fuelled by pop music and adrenaline.
Initial gripes and media-fuelled criticism focussed on unready hotel rooms - social media hummed with pictures of shoddy workmanship, and "double toilets" - soon gave way to stories of sporting endeavour.
New stars were born on the snow and ice, while others disappeared in a smudge of tears. South Korea's figure skating queen Kim Yuna was denied what had looked like being back-to-back golds in the women's individual event following her peerless skate at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
The judges disagreed and Russia celebrated a new darling in its first individual women's champion -- Adelina Sotnikova.
Most were left scratching their heads, while Kim was left crying in the corridors. Four-times world champion Kurt Browning put it bluntly.
"I just don't get it," he said. "Yuna Kim outskated her, full stop. I'm shocked." So was South Korea, and almost 2 million fans who signed up to a petition to have the scoring scrutinized.
A scoring controversy in figure skating is nothing new, but some extreme sports at the Games are, and Sochi saw the introduction of brand new disciplines at the Extreme Park.
In fact the Park proved so extreme that the world's most famous snowboarder Shaun White elected to withdraw from one event over fears about course safety.
While White was mocked by some for his cautious move, there were sickening reminders of the dangers of extreme sports, none more so than the training accident suffered by Russian freestyle skier Maria Komissarova, who fractured a vertebra and dislocated her spine during practice.
She underwent a six-and-a-half hour operation in Rosa Khutor, and another in a German clinic where she remains, rehabilitating.
On the ice, Russia's quarter-final loss to Finland in the men's ice hockey took the air out of what would have been a defining event of the Games had they progressed. Canada beat the United States in a flat semi-final and went on the win the gold. The United States flopped in the bronze medal game, losing 5-0 to the Finns.
The women's final, in contrast, was a sensational affair, with Canada again beating the United States with a comeback overtime win for a fourth successive gold.
In another milestone moment, Germany's Carina Vogt flew 104.5 metres through the air to win the first women's Olympic ski jumping competition, the 22-year-old's flight to gold marking the end of a 13-year fight by female athletes to be allowed to take part.
There was another first in one of the Olympics' blue riband events on the slopes. After a daredevil descent down Rosa Khutor's downhill run, Slovenia's Tina Maze and Swiss Dominique Gisin could not be separated, both clocking one minute 41.57 seconds to share gold - the first time an Olympic skiing race had seen joint winners.
America's Mikaela Shiffrin, still only 18, became the youngest ever Olympic slalom champion, while compatriot triple world champion Ted Ligety stormed the giant slalom to become the first American to win two men's Alpine golds.
Forty-year-old Ole Einar Bjoerndalen beat the odds to set a record of 13 Winter Games medals by winning the biathlon sprint and the mixed relay. Martin Fourcade of France, with two golds and one silver, was the most decorated man and Darya Domracheva, with three titles, was the most successful woman.
The prize for endurance must surely go to Noriaki Kasai. At 41 the Japanese pulled on his lycra and propelled himself into the skies to win silver in the individual large hill.
He had won silver in the team event in Lillehammer in 1994 and had been to every Olympics since in a fruitless bid to win another Olympic medal.
Britain won its first ever Olympic medal on snow when Jenny Jones, at 33 the oldest snowboarder in the slopestyle competition, took bronze. The previous 22 British medal winners had all competed on ice.
The Adler Arena was painted Orange as the Dutch dominated long-track speed-skating while the U.S. team fell apart, winning no medals. The Americans mostly blamed their dismal performance on their high-tech suits and on "slow ice".
The Netherlands took eight golds out of a possible 12 in Sochi. It included four medal sweeps in the 10 individual events in a show of power not seen in any sport at a Winter Olympics before. The Soviet Union won six golds in the sport at the 1960 Games, while South Korea matched the half dozen in short-track at the 2006 Turin Games.
In short-track here Viktor Ahn won three gold medals to trigger wild celebrations in his adopted Russia - and heap yet more agony on his native South Koreans.
Ahn, who swapped South Korea for Russia after the Koreans failed to select him for the 2010 Vancouver Games, confirmed his place among the greatest Winter Olympians of all time when he won the 1,000 metres, the 500m and helped help Russia win the 5,000m relay.
He now has six Olympic gold medals in total - more than any speed skater either in short-track or the more traditional long course.
"This has been the best experience of my sporting career and I will never forget Sochi," Ahn told reporters, while Korean President Park Geun-hye launched an inquiry into how they could have let him go.
South Korea will hope to have their house in order by the time they host the next 2018 Games. Until then Russia will enjoy basking in the glow of 13 golds, 11 silvers and nine bronze medals from hosting its first Winter Games.
DEATHS
SENZO MEYIWA
South Africa soccer captain Senzo Meyiwa was shot dead by intruders when trying to protect his girlfriend during a robbery at her home near Johannesburg.
The 27-year-old Orlando Pirates goalkeeper died after suffering a single shot through the chest at the home of girlfriend Kelly Khumalo, a local actress and singer, in the township of Vosloorus.
His death has highlighted the problem of gun violence in South Africa after Paralympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius was jailed for five years for shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp last year.
Even though South Africa's murder rate has been gradually dropping, it remains one of the world's most violent countries, with police recording more than 17,000 murders last year, or 31 per 100,000 people - seven times the rate in the United States.
EUSEBIO
Soccer legend Eusebio died aged 71. The Portuguese excelled in the 1966 World Cup, helping Portugal to finish in third place and being top goalscorer in the tournament with nine goals - four of them in one match against North Korea.
The former Benfica and Portugal striker also helped Benfica reach four European Cup finals, including victory in 1962, scoring twice in the final in a 5-3 win over Real Madrid.
He was named European Footballer of the Year in 1965.
Born in Mozambique, the striker's name was Eusebio da Silva Ferreira, but was known simply as Eusebio. Playing in the red shirts of Benfica and Portugal, he intimidated defences with his ability to carve his way through them to score. He retired in 1975 after a career that included 64 caps and 41 international goals.
He was voted by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) as sixth in its ranking of top players of the 20th century.
ALFREDO DI STEFANO
Former Real Madrid forward Alfredo Di Stefano, 88, one of the greatest soccer players of all time, died in the Spanish capital two days after suffering a heart attack.
Known as 'La Saeta Rubia' (blond arrow), Argentina-born Di Stefano joined Real in 1953 and became a naturalised Spaniard three years later.
He helped the club win five successive European Cups between 1956-60 and scored in each of the finals. His death came just weeks after Real won their 10th European crown.
Di Stefano's international career was less spectacular and he made a handful of appearances for Argentina and later Colombia, while he was playing club football there, before netting 23 goals in 31 games for Spain.
He had a number of health problems in recent years and was fitted with a pacemaker in 2005 after heart surgery.
LUIS ARAGONES
Former coach Luis Aragones, the man who ended Spain's 44-year wait for a major international trophy by winning Euro 2008 and sparking a golden era for the team, died at the age of 75 after a battle with leukaemia.
Spain lifted the European Championship trophy in 1964 but for several decades after they were regarded as under-achievers.
Aragones changed that perception with his victory in 2008, creating the platform for more triumphs under Vicente del Bosque at the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.
Aragones realised the need to get rid of ageing players like Raul and Michel Salgado, creating a new playing style based on the short-passing soccer that was bringing success at Barcelona.
The often eccentric coach was derided at the start by the media for dropping the established big names before results started to improve.
Aragones chose to stand down after Euro 2008. He then spent one season coaching Turkish side Fenerbahce before leaving the job in 2009.
Aragones played as a striker for third-tier club Pinar de Hortaleza in the mid-1950s. He signed for Real Madrid at the age of 20 but never featured in the first team.
He endured a journeyman existence as a player, moving from one team to another before finally finding his feet at Real Betis. However, it was at Atletico Madrid where he really came into his own and he became a talismanic figure during his 10 years there.
Aragones also went from one club to another in a 30-year coaching career.
He won three league titles with the eight Spanish sides that he coached, including Atletico and Barcelona, before taking charge of the national team in 2004.
TOM FINNEY
Tom Finney, one of England's greatest players who was famously known as the 'Preston Plumber', died at the age of 91.
Finney won 76 England caps, scoring 30 goals, and was voted Footballer of the Year in 1954 and 1957 - the first man to receive the accolade twice.
He also scored 210 goals in 473 appearances for his boyhood club before retiring in 1960 and returning to his trade as a plumber before becoming a newspaper columnist.
Finney, who could play on the right and left wing or at centre-forward, had joined his hometown club Preston as an amateur in 1937, turning professional three years later.
He helped Preston win the second division title in 1951 and won first division runners-up medals in 1953 and 1958. He also played in the FA Cup final loss to West Bromwich Albion in 1954.
Finney made his England debut at 24 against Northern Ireland in Belfast in 1946, less than a month after his Preston debut, and scored in a 7-2 win under new manager Walter Winterbottom.
He played at the World Cup in 1954 and 1958 and later that year made his last international appearance against the USSR at Wembley Stadium.
Finney was awarded the OBE in 1961, and was knighted at Buckingham Palace in 1998. He became Preston's president in the 1975-76 season and has a stand named after him at Deepdale.
TITO VILANOVA
Former Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova died aged 45 following a battle with cancer that forced him to stand down at the end of the 2013 season.
He took over at the Nou Camp ahead of the 2012-13 season having been Pep Guardiola's assistant during the most successful period in Barca's history in which they won three out of four La Liga titles and two Champions Leagues in 2009 and 2011.
Barcelona went on to make the best-ever start to a La Liga season with 18 wins from 19 games but, in December 2012, Vilanova was diagnosed with cancer for the second time.
It meant his assistant Jordi Roura had to take charge of the team on those occasions when he was undergoing treatment.
At the end of the season Vilanova announced he was resigning to concentrate on his recovery from the illness.
Vilanova, a midfielder came through Barca's youth system but was let go in 1990, playing for several lower league teams before finally getting his chance in the Spanish top flight with Celta Vigo where he played for three season in the mid-1990s.
It was as a coach though that he made his mark and he began working with the Barcelona youth teams, training future first team players like Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas.
After several seasons away from the Catalan club he returned in 2007 as assistant to Guardiola with the Barca B team. The following season the pair took charge of the first team and Vilanova went on to play a key role in the club's success.
ELENA BALTACHA
Former British women's number one Elena Baltacha died at the age of 30 from liver cancer.
Baltacha, who was born in Kiev but moved to Britain where her father Sergei was a professional soccer player for Ipswich Town, turned professional in 1997 and reached a career-high ranking of 49 in 2010.
She competed at the 2012 London Olympics but retired at the end of the following year because of persistent knee injuries.
She married her coach Nino Severino in December 2013 before being diagnosed with cancer in January this year.
JACK BRABHAM
Australian Jack Brabham, who won three Formula One world titles and is the only man to have won the championship driving a car bearing his name, died at the age of 88.
A fierce competitor, brilliant engineer and astute businessman, Brabham claimed the Formula One titles in 1959 and 1960 for Cooper Racing before going on to win a third in 1966 for the Brabham marque.
He died at his home on Australia's Gold Coast.
A former Royal Australian Air Force mechanic, Brabham began racing midget cars on cinder tracks in Australia in 1948 before moving to Britain to pursue his career in the mid 1950s.
Brabham became the first Australian to win the Formula One title in 1959, famously pushing his car uphill to the finishing line to seal the triumph after running out of fuel on the final lap at the U.S. Grand Prix at Sebring.
After his second triumph for Cooper, Brabham set up a company with friend and fellow Australian Ron Tauranac to design and build their own cars, one of which he drove to the Formula One title in 1966 at the age of 40.
Nicknamed 'Black Jack' for his mop of dark hair and taciturn nature, Brabham would become "Geriatric Jack" as he raced on into his 40s, his last victory coming at the 1970 South African Grand Prix in his final season when he was 43.
In total, Brabham raced in 126 grands prix, taking pole position 13 times and winning 14 races.
After retirement, Brabham sold his team to Bernie Ecclestone, the Briton who would go on to run the sport, and returned to Australia. He was knighted for services to motorsport in 1979.
His sons Geoff, Gary, and David later forged their own careers in motorsport, while the Brabham team name remained in Formula One until the early 1990s.
ANDREA DE CESARIS
Former Formula One driver Andrea De Cesaris died following a motorbike accident on Rome's ringroad.
The 55-year-old, whose record for the most races without a win still stands, made 208 starts for 10 different teams including McLaren between 1980 and 1994.
De Cesaris took only one pole position in his career, as a 22-year-old with Alfa Romeo at the USA West Grand Prix in Long Beach in 1982 -- at the time a record for the youngest driver to qualify at the front of the grid.
He finished second twice and made five Formula One podium finishes in total. The Italian also scored the first points for the Jordan team in 1991.
JIMMY ELLIS
Former world heavyweight boxing champion Jimmy Ellis died aged 74.
Born in Louisville - the same place as Muhammad Ali - Ellis would fight 53 times as a professional, including a losing effort against The Greatest.
A Golden Gloves champion as an amateur, Ellis turned pro in 1961 and an illustrious career peaked when he won the WBA world heavyweight title in 1968 against Jerry Quarry.
He defended it once against Floyd Patterson in Sweden, but lost it when Joe Frazier stopped him in four rounds at Madison Square Garden in a heavyweight title unification fight.
There would be other big fights for Ellis though, including a 1971 bout against Ali, which he lost via stoppage in the 12th round.
When he retired in 1975, Ellis had won 40, lost 12 and drawn one of his professional fights, with 24 wins coming by stoppage.
Post boxing, Ellis remained in the sport as a trainer, but suffered from dementia related to his time spent between the ropes, passing away in Louisville.
OSCAR TAVERAS
St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras, considered one of baseball's brightest prospects, was killed in a car crash in the Dominican Republic.
The 22-year-old made his debut this year and played 80 games for the Cardinals in 2014, carrying a .239 batting average and hitting three home runs.
Taveras' girlfriend, 18-year-old Edilia Arvelo, was also killed in the crash, which occurred near the player's home in Sosua in the northern part of the Dominican Republic, U.S. media reported, citing police in nearby Puerto Plata and local newspapers.
PHILLIP HUGHES
Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes died in hospital on November 27, two days after the international batsman was struck on the head by a ball during a domestic match.
Governing body Cricket Australia (CA) confirmed the 25-year-old had lost his fight for life, casting a pall over the cricket-mad nation who are co-hosting the World Cup in early 2015.
Hughes, who played in 26 tests and 25 one-day internationals for Australia, had spent a second night at the hospital in an induced coma after having emergency surgery to relieve pressure on his brain.
He was struck on the head by a ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground when batting for South Australia, a devastating blow that experts compared to the trauma suffered by victims of a car crash. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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