A promising 17-year-old Australian cricketer died on Thursday after being struck by a ball, with his family saying they were “utterly devastated”.

Ben Austin was in the nets with a helmet on before a Twenty20 game in Melbourne on Tuesday when he was hit in the neck while facing a ball-throwing device.

He was rushed to the hospital in critical condition.

“We are utterly devastated by the passing of our beautiful Ben, who died earlier on Thursday morning,” his father, Jace Austin, said in a statement.

“This tragedy has taken Ben from us, but we find some comfort that he was doing something he did for so many summers — going down to the nets with mates to play cricket.

“We would also like to support his teammate, who was bowling in the nets. This accident has impacted two young men and our thoughts are with him and his family as well.”

Austin was an emerging bowler and batter, considered by his Ferntree Gully Cricket Club as a “star cricketer, great leader and an awesome young man”.

Deaths in cricket are rare.

The most recent high-profile one in Australia came in 2014 when Test star Phillip Hughes was killed when hit in the neck by a rising ball during a domestic Sheffield Shield game.

His death stunned Australia and the world cricket community, sparking an outpouring of grief and ushering in stronger protocols around concussion and better safety equipment.

Cricket Victoria chief Nick Cummins told broadcaster ABC there were similarities between the two tragedies.

“The ball hit him (Austin) in the neck in a similar accident that Phil Hughes suffered 10 years ago,” Cummins said.

Cricket Australia chair Mike Baird said his heart “was broken” and lessons needed to be learned.

“Clearly there are things we have to learn from this,” Baird told reporters. “But right now we are concerned about the family and trying to support them in every way.”

Trey Yesavage’s final start of a wild 2025 season, which began in Single-A ball to pitching his second World Series game for the Toronto Blue Jays, ends with a pivotal masterpiece.

Yesavage, the 22-year-old who worked his wall through the Blue Jays’ minor league system to eventually cement himself as a key member of this postseason run, delivered a seven-inning masterclass on the mound at Dodger Stadium to help Toronto defeat Los Angeles, 6-1, in Game 5 of the World Series. 

Thanks to the efforts of Yesavage, and some more timely hitting by this Blue Jays lineup, Toronto is heading back north with only one more win needed to win the World Series. 

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Yesavage struck out 12 Dodgers hitters and allowed just three hits and one earned run over a 104-pitch performance that saw 10 of those strikeouts in the first five innings of the contest. 

The only other person to do that in MLB history? Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax, who was right behind home plate watching Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. 

In Game 1, Yesavage didn’t have his go-to pitch, a sharp-dropping splitter, which forced him to use his slider more often than he was used to. As a result, he was touched up by the Dodgers, though the Blue Jays’ own offensive onslaught resulted in a Game 1 victory at home. 

This time around, Yesavage had the perfect touch with the pitch and the Dodgers couldn’t figure it out like the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners before them this postseason. Also, the slider was quite complementary with his mid-90s fastball keeping hitters honest at the dish. 

BLUE JAYS BOUNCE BACK AGAINST DODGERS TO EVEN WORLD SERIES AFTER EXTRA-INNING MARATHON

And it also helped that Yesavage had some quick insurance on the scoreboard as his opponent, Blake Snell, allowed two solo home runs on the first three pitches of the game. 

First, it was Davis Schneider taking the first pitch he saw over the fence to set the tone immediately for Toronto. Then, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s dream postseason continued as he belted his eighth home run this October to make it 2-0 in favor of the road team in this crucial Game 5. 

In the bottom of the third, Yesavage’s only blemish of the game came on a 2-0 count to Enrique Hernandez, who didn’t flinch at a splitter up in the zone. He turned and parked it, as the baseball flew over the left field fence and reenergized the Dodger Stadium crowd that had been lifeless since the Guerrero homer. 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in game five of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.  (Luke Hales/Getty Images)

But it didn’t last long, as the Blue Jays responded in the next frame. Teoscar Hernandez overplayed a Daulton Varsho hit to right field, and it cost him, as Varsho sprinted all the way to third base. Ernie Clement would hit a sacrifice fly to score him and take the two-run lead back. 

As Yesavage kept cruising, the Blue Jays widened the gap necessary to come away with the victory in the top of the seventh when Addison Barger scored on a single and three wild pitches, while Bo Bichette singled home Andres Gimenez to make it a 5-1 ball game. Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s single in the top of the eighth was added insurance, as Clement came across to score. 

With Yesavage’s night complete, Blue Jays manager John Schneider went to Seranthony Dominguez and closer Jeff Hoffman to shut the door on Game 5, and that’s exactly what they did to give themselves two chances at securing the franchise’s first World Series since 1993. 

Meanwhile, the Dodgers, winners of last year’s World Series, have their backs against the wall. They will need to win the next two games to retain their title, and they’ll have the right man on the mound for it. 

Trey Yesavage of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates after a double play to end the seventh inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in game five of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto seeks his third straight complete game, as he was a much-needed leader in Game 2’s victory for Los Angeles. He will face Kevin Gausman, who had a great performance until giving up some solo homers in Game 2 in Toronto. 

First pitch in Game 6 will come on Halloween night in Toronto at 8:08 p.m. ET.   

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Cristiano Ronaldo is hurtling toward the magical figure of 1,000 career goals and it seems a case of when, rather than if, the Portugal and Al-Nassr forward takes his tally into four figures.

Ronaldo is now at 950 goals, having tallied in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Al Hazm. He signed a new two-year contract with Saudi Pro League team Al-Nassr in June, taking him to the end of the 2026-27 season with the Riyadh-based club.

Only a lengthy injury could deny the 40-year-old his 1,000th goal during that period. But with Ronaldo still scoring at a rate of almost a goal per game for Al-Nassr, we’ve crunched the numbers and can now predict (thanks to the help of ESPN’s Global Sports Research) that Ronaldo — injuries aside — will score his 1,000th goal before the end of 2026, with the former Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus star most likely to do it in late November or early December of 2026.

How can we be so certain? Well, there are few things (if any) in football that can be bracketed as sure, but Ronaldo hitting the back of the net for club and country has proved to be one of the most reliable and predictable outcomes since he scored the first of his 950 goals to date as a 17-year-old for Sporting CP in a 3-0 win against Moreirense in Lisbon on Oct 7, 2002.

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Twenty-three years later, Ronaldo is 39 goals ahead of Lionel Messi as the most prolific men’s international scorer with 143 goals — his most recent additions being both goals in Portugal’s 2-1 World Cup qualification victory against Hungary earlier this month — and few would bet against him reaching another big mark, 150 international goals, during the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup next summer.

Having just signed a new three-year contract with Inter Miami that will tie him to the MLS side until the end of the 2028 season, Messi may also break the 1,000-goal barrier before hanging up his boots. The 38-year-old has 889 career goals for Barcelona, Paris-Saint Germain, Inter Miami and Argentina, but with Ronaldo being 60 goals ahead, does anybody really expect him to call it quits before he beats Messi to the 1,000 mark? The answer to that — an emphatic no — is another certainty.

Since making his debut for Sporting as a substitute in a 0-0 Champions League qualifying-round tie against Inter Milan in Aug 2002, Ronaldo has scored 950 goals in 1,293 games, giving him a career goals ratio of 0.73 per game. As previously noted, Messi is the only threat — albeit a distant one — to hitting 1,000 career goals before Ronaldo, but could Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and Lamine Yamal eclipse whatever figure Ronaldo reaches in the years to come?

Yamal, 18, has the luxury of having time on his side, but with just 33 goals in 137 games at a rate of 0.24 goals per game, the Barcelona and Spain forward would need another two decades or more if he were to emulate Ronaldo. Haaland (0.84 goals per game) and Mbappé (0.74) both have a better goals ratio than Ronaldo with 324 and 396 career goals respectively, but if you ask the two players right now whether they are prepared to play beyond their 40th birthday to catch the Portugal star, it feels like a tall order for the 25-year-old Manchester City forward and Real Madrid’s 26-year-old superstar respectively.

The incredible thing about Ronaldo is that he is now scoring at an even more impressive rate than his career ratio, with his most recent 100 goals for club and country being scored at 0.92 per 90 minutes and his past 50 goals at 0.93 per 90 minutes.

Clearly, by taking his talents to the Saudi Pro League and AFC Champions League, Ronaldo is now operating at a less demanding standard than throughout a career played at the highest level in Europe’s top leagues. It probably explains why it has taken him just 57 games for Al-Nassr and Portugal to go from 900 goals to 950, but nonetheless, he has still scored more Pro League goals this season than Karim Benzema, Darwin Núñez, Ivan Toney and Kingsley Coman.

On the basis that he continues to score at a prolific rate for Al-Nassr and is also as reliable as ever for his country, ESPN’s projection is that Ronaldo is on course to hit 1,000 goals in 13 months’ time. That was the timeframe within which he scored his past 50 goals; throwing it forward, another 13 months will give Ronaldo approximately 54-64 games to score his next 50 goals.

A deep run in the AFC Champions League with Al-Nassr and a similarly successful World Cup with Portugal next summer would only give Ronaldo more opportunities to edge closer to 1,000 goals. But right now, if you want a date for the diary to celebrate Cristiano Ronaldo’s 1,000th career goal, keep it clear in late November and early December next year.