Australian bowler John Hastings reveals fatal illness affecting cricket career

Australian bowler John Hastings has revealed he risks long-term damage or even death if he continues to bowl due to a health issue causing persistent bleeding on his lungs.

Speaking to Breakfast Club on Friday, Hastings said, he has undergone an extensive amount of testing but he has been left searching for answers, placing his cricket career in jeopardy.

“It’s something that, over probably the last three or four months, has been a really difficult period for me. It’s basically every time I’ve been trying to gear up and get ready to bowl, I’ve been coughing up blood.”

The 32-year-old bowler added, “What’s happened is basically I won’t be able to bowl this year or probably moving forward unless this sort of situation gets sorted out.”

“It’s just something that they can’t say, ‘look, you’re not going to have a fatal bleed on the field’ or it’s not going to cause long-term damage."

“It’s pretty shattering. I’ve come to terms with it now, but over the last four or five months it’s been a very, very tough period," he added.

Hastings, who was due to play for the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League this season said, “I’ve played this game my whole life and I wanted to keep playing it. I wanted to play tournaments all around the world. That’s one of the reasons I retired early from one-day and four-day cricket.”

“To see it maybe slipping away, it’s pretty tough to take. At this stage, unless something miraculous happens, I won’t be able to bowl,” the Australian bowler added.