As cricket coach Hamish Reynolds perfects the bat swings of his under-11s team at St Leonards on Friday, a larger issue looms.

Reynolds is 19, two years older than Ben Austin, who died when a cricket ball struck his neck while practising at his local nets at Melbourne’s Ferntree Gully on Tuesday night.

Hamish Reynolds of Cricket Insight Academy in North Sydney training kids in North Sydney. Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“My first thought was, am I making sure that I’m practising safely enough? That my kids wear their helmets, gloves and pads?”

Reynolds does not believe what happened to Austin was a freak accident.

“The news highlights it could happen to anyone,” he said. “These things shouldn’t be happening [and] should be recognised by the wider community.” Loading

His brother,

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