Once compared to the great Donald Bradman, Australia Test cricketer Phillip Hughes passed away today in Sydney following a fatal injury he had incurred in a Sheffield Shield match on Tuesday. Hughes would have turned 26 on Sunday.
During this game for South Australia against New South Wales, Hughes was batting on 63 when he was struck on neck by a bouncer from pace bowler Sean Abbott. Hughes stood dazed for a few moments before falling face first to the pitch. He did not gain consciousness again.
"It is my sad duty to inform you that a short time ago Phillip Hughes passed away," Australian team doctor Peter Brukner said in a statement.
"He never regained consciousness following his injury on Tuesday," added Brukner. "He was not in pain before he passed and was surrounded by his family and close friends. As a cricket community we mourn his loss and extend our deepest sympathies to Phillip's family and friends at this incredibly sad time."
"Phillip took the blow at the side of the neck and as a result of that blow his vertebral artery, one of the main arteries leading to the brain, was compressed by the ball," Brukner said on Thursday. "That caused the artery to split and for bleeding to go up into the brain. He had a massive bleed into his brain. This is frequently fatal at the time.
Australia captain Michael Clarke, a friend to Hughes, read out a statement by Hughes' family. "We're devastated by the loss of our much-loved son and brother Phillip," Clarke said, struggling to control his emotions. "Cricket was Phillip's life, and we as a family shared that love of the game with him .... We love you."
The cricketing community had been hoping for Hughes to regain consciousness Earlier in the day, Australian radio broadcaster Alan Jones had revealed that Hughes' condition was extremely serious. Jones said, "Hughes is breathing only with the assistance of medical technology and his condition is much more serious than anyone had imagined after damaging a major artery in the back of his head."
BATTING PRODIGY
2009, Durban: The youngest to score two hundreds in a TestHughes, who played 26 Tests and 25 ODIs for Australia, grew up on a banana farm in Macksville, NSW, developing his own unique technique that helped him score tonnes of runs through the off-side and down the ground but left him suspect against the rising delivery – a weakness that would cost him his life.
ALSO SEE: A walk through Hughes' career
Hughes made his Test debut in 2009 against South Africa, making a duck and a match-winning 75 at the Wanderers. In the next game of that series, the left-hander would create history. Aged 20 years and 98 day, Hughes scored 115 and 160 in that game, becoming the youngest Test cricketer to score twin hundreds in a game.
Those who had seen his rise were not surprised. At the 40-game mark in his First Class career, Hughes’ tally of 3882 runs was second only to Donald Bradman’s 4922 in Australian cricket.
Hughes couldn’t hold on to his spot in the Australia team. In his last comeback, he had made 81 in the Ashes Test at Nottingham, leading a stunning Australia fightback in the company of the teenaged Ashton Agar who had scored 98 on debut. Their tenth-wicket partnership of 163 set a new Test record. But he followed up that score with 1, 1, and 0, and lost favour with the selectors.
His ODI career had begun in a similar style albeit over three years after his Test debut, in January 2013. He made 112 on debut against Sri Lanka. Twelve days later, he bettered that with an unbeaten 138 against the same team. But a string of small scores later, he lost his opening position. His last game for Australia was on October 5 this year when he made 5 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. He had earned that comeback on the basis of a performance in July when he had scored 202 in a one-day game for Australia A against South Africa A. He is the first Australian to score a one-day double.
Hughes was expected to earn a Test recall next week against India in Australia captain Michael Clarke's place. Since his head injury, Clarke, a friend to Hughes, barely left his side at the hospital.
QUESTIONS ABOUT AMBULANCE SERVICE RAISED
Aged 11, growing up on his banana farm in Macksville.Questions about the response time of ambulances dispatched to the stadium were also raised.
The head of New South Wales Ambulance was to be hauled before the state health minister Jillian Skinner on Thursday after the ambulance authority issued conflicting statements about their response times.
The arrival of the first ambulance took 15 minutes, NSW Ambulance clarified in a statement on Wednesday.
The state's median response time for the highest priority "life-threatening cases" was just under eight minutes in 2013-14, according the authority's statistics.
"Due to the conflicting information distributed today by NSW Ambulance regarding (Tuesday's) response to the Sydney Cricket Ground, I will be meeting with NSW Ambulance Commissioner Ray Creen tomorrow to discuss the circumstances surrounding the incident," Skinner said.
ABBOTT GETS COUNSELLING
Abbott, the 22-year-old NSW pacer, has been receiving plenty of support and counselling from colleagues, friends and family. Abbott, whose bouncer felled Hughes, was reportedly good friends with the deceased batsman. He was one of the first to rush to Hughes after the injury and cradled his head as he slipped into unconsciousness.
The CEO of the Australia Cricketers' Association, Alistair Nicholson said, "Abbott has got a lot of support around him from his team-mates and also the counselling services. He's someone who we're monitoring closely and we know he's got a lot of support around him."
Abbott had visited the venue of the incident with Hughes, the Sydney Cricket Ground, on Wednesday along with his team-mates. All Shield games were abandoned following Hughes' injury. Australia are slated to host India in a four-Test series starting December 4. It is likely that Hughes' death will adversely impact those fixtures.
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