Blake Macdonald was fielding at short leg when a Michael Delaney pull shot crashed into his helmet, and Wests-UC captain Joseph Cooke immediately feared the worst.
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It was almost two years to the day since the cricketing landscape changed forever when South Australian batsman Phillip Hughes was fatally struck by a ball in a Sheffield Shield game at the SCG.
Now at Kippax No.2 Oval Wests-UC players were rushing in to check on their teammate in a Cricket ACT Douglas Cup match against Ginninderra.
Macdonald put his hand up to say he was OK, but wicketkeeper Cooke was just a few steps away and said the immediate aftermath was "pretty concerning".
"You do think the worst after what happened to Phil a few years ago," Cooke said.
"But I suppose the view that I had, I knew it wasn't going to be like that. But still it was a pretty heavy blow to take.
"... As soon as he tried to stand up you could tell he was a little bit groggy, but those first couple of moments [after] being hit were pretty concerning, and you do think the worst."
Cooke said there was no doubt Macdonald had been struck "pretty hard" – the ball ricocheted straight back towards the batsman from the line of impact.
Macdonald sat the rest of the day out and missed two Twenty20 games for the ACT Comets the following day as a precaution.
He has since been given the all-clear and said he escaped with "a mild concussion".
"I was a bit shocked that it hit me and just dealt with that at the time," Macdonald said.
"At that time I was a bit dazed after getting hit ... everyone else in the field was very quick to rush over and make sure [I was] okay.
"There is that concern over safety with anything to do with head injuries. Other than just making sure I was okay I wasn't thinking about it too much."
Macdonald is now in the market for a new helmet.
"You can't really tell but it's got a fair dint in it – that one's been thrown out and I'll move on to the next helmet," Macdonald said.
"If you push down on it, it pushes in a bit. Because it's navy blue, it's quite dark, you can't really notice much from looking at it."
Cooke said he would hate to imagine what could have happened if Macdonald wasn't wearing a helmet.
"He's a pretty tough kid," he said.
"I imagine anything that kept him off the field on Sunday as well was pretty major."
Macdonald will likely bat at No.7 for Wests-UC – well down the order compared to his usual role as opening batsman – who are 4-96 in reply to Ginninderra's 208.
CRICKET ACT DOUGLAS CUP
Saturday: Round one (day two) Queanbeyan (0/6) v North Canberra-Gungahlin (9/334 dec) at Freebody Oval; Tuggeranong Valley (160) v Eastlake (3/102) at Chisholm Oval; ANU (263) v Weston Creek Molonglo (1/48) at ANU North Oval; Ginninderra (208) v Wests-UC (4/96) at Kippax No.2 Oval. All games resume at 11am.
