Black... beaten by four thugs. BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP):
WEST Indies cricketer Marlon Black says he was lucky to survive an assault by four attackers outside a Melbourne, Australia nightclub earlier this week.
"I think I'm lucky to be alive," the fast bowler said on Tuesday night on his return from the team's Australia tour. "It's something that's going to stay with me for the rest of my life but it could have been worse," he added.
Four men allegedly kicked and beat Black, 25, when he and teammates Wavell Hinds and Sylvester Joseph were walking back to their hotel early on Sunday morning after a night out to mark the end of the three-month tour.
He needed 10 stitches to a head wound and aggravated an injury to his right bowling shoulder that could jeopardise his chances of playing in the home series against South Africa, starting March 9.
Black recalled that the four men were throwing bottles when he and his teammates came out of the nightclub. They followed them in a car and, while Hinds and Joseph ran off, Black was caught and set upon. There were no reports of arrests in the incident.
"It was really unfortunate," he said. "I think they might have mistaken us for African people."
