My Tribute to Phillip Hughes. RIP Hughesy.


Phillip Joel Hughes (30 November 1988 – 27 November 2014) was an Australian Test and One-Day International (ODI) cricketer who played domestic cricket for South Australia and Worcestershire. He was a left handed opening batsman who played for two seasons with New South Wales before making his Test debut in 2009 at the age of 20.

Hughes scored his first Test century in his second Test match for Australia at the age of 20, opening the batting and hitting 115 in the first innings against South Africa in Durban. This made Hughes Australia's youngest Test centurion since Doug Walters in 1965. In the second innings of the same match, Hughes scored 160 as Australia won the match by 175 runs, becoming the youngest cricketer in history to score centuries in both innings of a Test match. On 11 January 2013, he became the first Australian batsman in the history of ODI cricket to score a century on debut, a feat which he achieved against Sri Lanka in Melbourne. In the first Test of the 2013 Ashes, Hughes shared a world record tenth wicket partnership of 163 runs with debutant Ashton Agar, as Australia were narrowly beaten by England at Trent Bridge.

On 25 November 2014, Hughes was knocked unconscious by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, causing vertebral artery dissection that led to a brain hemorrhage. The Australian team doctor, Peter Brukner, noted that only 100 such cases had ever been reported, with "only one case reported as a result of a cricket ball". He was taken to St Vincent's Hospital where he underwent surgery, was placed into an induced coma and was in intensive care in a critical condition. He died two days later on 27 November, having failed to regain consciousness.

During a Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 25 November 2014, while batting on 63 not out, Hughes was struck in the neck by a bouncer from New South Wales bowler Sean Abbott. Hughes was wearing a helmet, but the ball struck an unprotected area. He collapsed before receiving mouth to mouth resuscitation and was subsequently taken to St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, where he underwent surgery and was placed into an induced coma.[45] Hughes' injury was a rare vertebral artery dissection which led to subarachnoid haemorrhage.

The match was immediately abandoned, and early the next day Cricket Australia announced that the other two Shield games that were being played elsewhere in Australia would also be abandoned, stating "Given how players across the country are feeling right now, it's just not the day to be playing cricket."

Hughes died two days later from his injuries, three days before his 26th birthday. Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke read a statement on behalf of Hughes' family. The Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, said "For a young life to be cut short playing our national game seems a shocking aberration. He was loved, admired and respected by his team-mates and by legions of cricket fans."

Play on the second day of the third Test between Pakistan and New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates was suspended, with the match extended by an extra day. The tour match between the Cricket Australia XI and the India team was also cancelled in light of Hughes' death. The second ODI between Sri Lanka and England, scheduled to be played on 29 November, will go ahead as a tribute to Hughes. People from all over the world posted photos of their bats on social media to pay tribute to Hughes. Cricket Australia will conduct an investigation into the safety of players following Hughes' death.

Clarke also confirmed that Cricket Australia had agreed to retire Phillip Hughes' One-Day International shirt number, 64, in remembrance of him.[58

RIP Phillip Hughes. A cricketer who never admitted defeat