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Business News/ Specials / Obituaries/  Phillip Hughes: Early end to a promising career
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Phillip Hughes: Early end to a promising career

Hughes passed away after failing to recover from severe head injuries suffered when he was struck by a bouncer

On Sunday, the 25-year old Hughes suffered a head injury in a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground after being hit by a bouncer by New South Wales’s bowler Sean Abbott. Photo: ReutersPremium
On Sunday, the 25-year old Hughes suffered a head injury in a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground after being hit by a bouncer by New South Wales’s bowler Sean Abbott. Photo: Reuters

New Delhi: Australian Test cricketer Phillip Hughes died in hospital on Thursday, two days after being hit on the head by a ball.

Cricket Australia confirmed Hughes’s death on its Twitter feed, saying, “We are extremely sad to announce that Phillip Hughes has passed away at the young age of 25. Our thoughts go out to Phillip’s family, friends, and the entire cricket community on this incredibly sad day."

Hughes suffered severe head injuries in a domestic Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Tuesday, when he was hit by a bouncer by New South Wales bowler Sean Abbott. The international batsman had attempted a hook shot off Abbott, and was hit as he tried to turn his head. The bouncer struck Hughes on the left rear side of the head, just below the helmet.

Hughes was rushed to a hospital in Sydney in critical condition, where he underwent surgery. He remained in critical condition through the two days, failing to regain consciousness, Australia team doctor Peter Brukner said.

Hughes was playing for South Australia in the match. Prior to the incident, Hughes had compiled a well-made 63 runs off 161 balls, which put him in contention as replacement for the injured Michael Clarke in the first Test against India in Brisbane, starting on 4 December.

Hughes would have turned 26 on Sunday.

Born in 1988 in Macksville, New South Wales, Hughes went on to represent Australia in 26 Tests and 25 One-Day Internationals. Known for his unorthodox technique, Hughes, over the years acquired a reputation for plucky, yet audacious batsmanship, slashing through cover without a second-thought, or slicing instinctively through point.

After a duck in his debut Test innings against South Africa in Johannesburg in February 2009, Hughes scored an impressive 75 in the second innings. He followed it up with two knocks that confirmed his meteoric rise in international cricket.

In the second Test in Durban, Hughes went on to become the youngest player to score a century in each innings of a Test, making 115 in the first innings and 160 in the second. While the runs spoke for themselves, it was the manner in which he got them that made the Durban knocks special. There was a sense of fearlessness about his batting, as he took on fast bowlers the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

Following this stunning arrival, Hughes fell off the radar in August 2009 with a string of low scores and with Australia recalling Simon Katich to slot in as opener, his career looked to be sliding. A run of failures meant that Hughes would have to go back to domestic cricket in Australia or England to stage a comeback, which he did around a year. The unorthodox nature of his technique, as much as it propelled his run-making, also led to his downfall.

Two years after his twin hundreds in Durban, he scored his third Test century in 2011 against Sri Lanka in Colombo, but inconsistency undid Hughes. In the last three years, Hughes has been in and out of the Australian playing 11, struggling against spin on Australia’s tour of India in 2013. He was dropped after the Ashes Test at Lord’s last year, which England won by 347 runs. That Test match was Hughes’ last in the famous Australian ‘Baggy Green’.

After his first-class debut in 2007, Hughes played 114 matches and scored 9,023 runs, with a highest score of 243 for Australia A earlier this year. Hughes also became the first Australian to score a double century in limited-overs cricket, when he notched up an unbeaten 202 for Australia A vs South Africa A in 2014. He began his career with New South Wales, but moved to South Australia later in his career. Besides, Hughes also played in England, representing counties like Middlesex, Hampshire and Worcestershire. He was also a part of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians.

His ODI career also got off to a flyer. In January 2013, opening the batting for Australia in the first ODI against Sri Lanka at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Hughes made an impressive 112 off 129 balls, thus becoming the first Australian to score an ODI hundred on debut. A string of low scores followed, but Hughes finished the series the way he began—with a hundred, this time a brilliant 138—to help Australia tie the series 2-2.

Just like in his Test career, inconsistency was a problem Hughes couldn’t overcome.

Some of his best knocks were interspersed with very ordinary ones, unable to convert some of the promising starts he’d often get off to. Hughes played his last ODI against Pakistan in October in Abu Dhabi, where he made five runs.

While cricket is not a particularly dangerous sport, it has claimed a few lives on the pitch and left some others scarred for life.

Before Hughes, the sport was witness to the untimely death of Indian cricketer Raman Lamba in 1998, who was struck by a ball while fielding at silly point—close to the batsman—in a club match in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Similarly, Pakistan wicketkeeper batsman Abdul Aziz was just 17 when he died after being struck on the chest by an off-spinner in the 1959-60 Quaid-e-Azam trophy final.

Former Indian captain Nari Contractor’s career was cut short after he was hit on the head by a Charlie Griffith bouncer in 1962.

New Zealand fast bowler Ewen Chatfield was struck on his temple by England bowler Peter Lever, while batting at number 11, leading to heart failure. But Chatfield was revived after a mouth-to-mouth resuscitation by the England team doctor. 

Chatfield staged a comeback two years later, after which he began a successful fast-bowling partnership with Sir Richard Hadlee.

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Published: 27 Nov 2014, 11:34 AM IST
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