Nobody "was to blame" for the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes in '14, the coroner who led the inquest into his death said, according to the BBC. Hughes died from a brain hemorrhage, two days after "being hit on the neck while playing for South Australia in a first-class match in Sydney." New South Wales coroner Michael Barnes "did, however, make recommendations to ensure the sport was safer." Cricket Australia said that it would "make the changes as soon as possible." CA CEO James Sutherland said, "We want to do everything possible to avoid this sort of thing happening again in the future." Barnes said that there had been no "malicious intent" from New South Wales' Sean Abbott, who bowled the "fatal delivery" at the Sydney Cricket Ground, and "no failure" to enforce the laws of the game "in respect to the short-pitched deliveries." Barnes said that while he could not be certain sledging -- "verbal abuse designed to unsettle a batsman" -- had taken place, it was "difficult to accept" it had not, but it "would not have played any part in Hughes' death." Barnes: "Hopefully the focus on this unsavory aspect of the incident may cause those who claim to love the game to reflect whether the practice of sledging is worthy of its participants." Barnes also found that changes to safety equipment introduced since Hughes' death "would not have saved the player." He also found that the emergency response to the incident "was flawed and it took six minutes to call an ambulance" (BBC, 11/4).
