27th November 2014: One of the saddest days in cricket as Phillip Hughes passes away

[Nazir_ Rules]

A nice gesture by google. RIP Phil Hughes.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>A nice touch from Google <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/putoutyourbats?src=hash">#putoutyourbats</a> <a href="http://t.co/64LlvK7k2w">pic.twitter.com/64LlvK7k2w</a></p>— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) <a href="https://twitter.com/CricketAus/status/538192572179419138">November 28, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MRSN]

Definitely next time any player will think twice before pulling.

 

[Ikball]

Pakistani cricket fans light candles to pay tribute to Australian cricketer Phil Hughes in #Karachi.

 

[Saqs]

I've being trying to write this post for hours but just haven't managed to start

I'm not even sure how this will come out. It's going to be all over the place I suspect.

I never knew the bloke but in I held him in a very unique regard.

Phillip was the first and only cricketer that I'd truly claim as mine even though I never met him. It just so happened that the timing of his emergence and the timing of where Australia was at and where I was at that led to this.

Some people here have accused me of being particularly harsh with Khawaja or other Australian cricket players. I don't think so. I've only looked harshed because in comparison I've always been rather soft on Hughes and excused away his failures and kept the faith in him where I haven't in other. I'd always say otherwise if someone suggested it but it was true and I even knew at the time that for some reason I had a special standard for Hughes that was different to how I judged others.
Nowdays I judge players as the person I am - an adult cricket fan with a pretty critical and cynical eye. I'll only judge a player if I have seen them and will often judge regardless of performance but based on technique and how I think a player would perform. I'm right far more often than not but I love the game of cricket as a man and not as a child.

Sometimes there are moments in the game which briefly restore the childish hope and exhilaration you get- Agar's 98 and Harris's magical, one legged spell to win the series in South Africa are two recent events for me. But for some reason, for Hughes and Hughes alone I have consistently held onto the same childish love and hope that I had for him seven years ago when he first started emerging and I was still a teenager. I go out of my to watch or at minimum follow, legally or otherwise, every innings he plays everywhere. Always with the belief that his chance would come again. That he would become the great test player I knew he would become.

Cricket is a game of history and traditions- even more so Australia and England which in many ways explains the disdain towards the non test forms of the game over here. It's about the continuing legacy. Cricket in Australia is a cultural past time brought about by getting taken to a test as a young boy by your old man, by your older brother, by your uncle, by grandfather. Australia first played test cricket decades before Australia existed as a nation- in a time where Australia was 6 or 7 colonies (including New Zealand which opted out of federation). The concept of Australia and the difference between being Australian and being British was pretty fluid during the early days of national cricket. The coat of arms on the Baggy Green is different to the Australian national coat of arms because there was no Australian coat of arms at the time. The Australian cricket team doesn't wear green and gold because they're our national sporting colours. Our national sporting colours are green and gold because the Australian cricket team's colours were green and gold.
Even in the 19th century test matches were played at the MCG, the SCG and at the Adelaide Oval.

Back in 2007 I was still a teenage boy with a still pretty childish view of the game. For me, all I had experienced of Australia's cricket legacy was success after success. Every world cup I was old enough to properly follow- we won. We beat everyone everywhere. We thrashed a combined world XI. We went through two world cups undefeated- despite Shane Warne getting suspended just before the 2003 cup.
England managed to win back the Ashes by 2 runs. We came back and beat them 5-0. Warne misses some tests- MacGill would come in and dominate. McGrath misses a series? Stuart Clark comes in and destroys South Africa. Langer misses a test- Mike Hussey comes in.
Great opposition performance against us were to be applauded - I knew we'd win anyway because we were Australia.
Gillespie was done after 2005. McGrath, Warne and Langer retired in 2006/07. It was obvious that Gilchrist, Hayden, MacGill etc were going to follow shortly.
At the time I didn't appreciate what a freak team it was and I assumed that we'd find another few all time greats to replace them and to continue the 140 year legacy of Australian cricket.
At the same time in 2007 stories started to circulate about a new, young batting talent. Phillip Hughes. A young country lad just like so many other Australian cricket icons- Warren Bardsley, Don Bradman, Bill O'Reilly, Doug Walters, Glenn McGrath. The stories started to circulate about just how he good as he approached the start of his career.
We hear similar stories about Pat Cummins. About Josh Hazlewood. About Nic Maddinson. Eastern staters heard the same stories about Mitch Marsh. I still recall the stories about Mitchell Johnson. Right now the same stories are revolving about young Jake Doran.
They all hit reality when they ran into sheffield shield. Still showed talent. Still showed they could make the step up but through either inconsistency with success and more often failures typical of young talent or just pure inability to get on the field through injury they hit reality for a while.
Almost all players reach that level as you transition from talented junior to professional. On some occasions you get that one special talent that comes through and makes the step with no issues.
And that was Phillip Hughes.
He played a tour match early in 2007 against a Sri Lankan team with Murali. Scored a 50. Scored a century in a NSW 2nd XI match and shortly after at 18 made his sheffield shield debut.
Scored a 50 in his first innings at shield level. As an opener. Youngest player to represent NSW since Michael Clarke.
Scored a 50 in his first innings in the Australian One Day comp. As an opener.
Became the youngest man to score a century in a shield final at 18. As an opener.
The next season there was no second year blues and he continued piling on the runs as Hayden struggled and South Africa beat us over here with great bowling from Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

We had a return series in South Africa within months. Three tests. Hayden had retired and Phillip Hughes came into the team. To open in South Africa at age 20.
First innings was nothing special. Second innings was good 50.
Next test, in Durban he became the youngest player to score two centuries in a test match. In South Africa. Against Dale Steyn.

Phillip Hughes alone lived up to the hype straight away and I put all my childish hopes of the continuing Australian reign on him.

That's what Phillip Hughes meant to me. I never met the bloke and unfortunately we'll never meet.
He'll never become the great player I always thought he was destined to be.
But that is what he was to me. The last vestige of my boyhood love of cricket.

When a post gets quoted in Tapatalk for some reason it doesn't say who the person being quoted is.

But even without seeing who [MENTION=190]OZGOD[/MENTION] quoted, I knew this post was from you.

I had a similar soft spot for Hughes. I like players who are not conventional. Blessed with genius. But also burdened by flaws. I love a great story. Redemption stories are rare and therefore all the more cherished.

Hughes had it all. His technique was so unconventional when compared to the usual Aus style of batting. He also made his debut very young (something that happens rarely in Aus) and as you said fulfilled his promise straight away. He got found out for a while but had all the ingredients of joining the echelons alongside Ponting, Chappell, Waugh, Clarke and Border as an ATG.

Tragic. Thanks for your post. Was a great read. Hope it was therapeutic.

 

[DHONI183]

Condolences Thread: Phillip Hughes Passes Away

Day two..... I still can´t accept it. It was the first thing that I thought of before falling asleep yesterday and today again after waking up.

Coming to his exploits on the field at the international level, one that stands out for me would be his 163-run partnership with Ashton Agar in the first Ashes Test match in 2013 in England, the then last wicket record stand in international cricket. Phil remained unbeaten on 81 and was instrumental in guiding the number 11 debutant who fell just two runs short of a hundred. A memorable and one of the most exciting Test matches of all time which England won by just 14 runs. Feels satisfying to reflect upon the fact that he played a part in that nail-biting match which I watched with great interest.

He burst onto the scenes with a great series in South Africa in 2009, scoring two centuries in only his second Test match and thus becoming the youngest player ever to do so - a record that still stands and one that I hope never gets broken. Due to his natural style of playing aggressive cricket and going after the bowling even in Test cricket, I remember a lot of people calling him Australia´s very own Virender Sehwag. He was also the guy who made it to the headlines for becoming the first, and probably the only even so far, to have announced on Twitter that he is dropped from the playing 11 back in the 2009 Ashes.

I used to call him the "Kainchi balleybaaz", meaning "The scissors batsman". Odd it may sound, but I coined this term for him seeing the way he played his masterly square cut. His bat and the front/right leg would both move like a pair of scissors when they clip something - at least that´s how I felt seeing him bat. He had a unique way of batting.

Watch some of the videos mate.

Went through some of those yesterday itself after your post. The tribute video was the best. Sweet, memorable and one that almost made me cry.

 

[Convict]

On the 63 minute of the local soccer game going on tonight (Melbourne v Adelaide) the crowd burst into applause on the 63rd minute and made a chant of "Hughesy"

 

[Arsal_AK]

Don't know what to say. I am still in shock and just can't believe it. To lose your life that young, its just so sad and tragic.

Phil, rest in peace champ. You will be live on in the hearts of us all.

 

[Saqs]

On the 63 minute of the local soccer game going on tonight (Melbourne v Adelaide) the crowd burst into applause on the 63rd minute and made a chant of "Hughesy"

That's awesome.

 

[Convict]

That's awesome.

http://video.news.ninemsn.com.au/?uuid=3913839287001

 

[Convict]

 

[Convict]

http://www.theage.com.au/nsw/philli...sville-mourns-heros-loss-20141128-11w3g4.html

 

[Tera Gawaandi]

Sachin Tendulkar [MENTION=96141]sachin_[/MENTION]rt

My bat when I was 25. RIP Phil. #putoutyourbats

 

[OZGOD]

Day two..... I still can´t accept it. It was the first thing that I thought of before falling asleep yesterday and today again after waking up.

Coming to his exploits on the field at the international level, one that stands out for me would be his 163-run partnership with Ashton Agar in the first Ashes Test match in 2013 in England, the then last wicket record stand in international cricket. Phil remained unbeaten on 81 and was instrumental in guiding the number 11 debutant who fell just two runs short of a hundred. A memorable and one of the most exciting Test matches of all time which England won by just 14 runs. Feels satisfying to reflect upon the fact that he played a part in that nail-biting match which I watched with great interest.

He burst onto the scenes with a great series in South Africa in 2009, scoring two centuries in only his second Test match and thus becoming the youngest player ever to do so - a record that still stands and one that I hope never gets broken. Due to his natural style of playing aggressive cricket and going after the bowling even in Test cricket, I remember a lot of people calling him Australia´s very own Virender Sehwag. He was also the guy who made it to the headlines for becoming the first, and probably the only even so far, to have announced on Twitter that he is dropped from the playing 11 back in the 2009 Ashes.

I used to call him the "Kainchi balleybaaz", meaning "The scissors batsman". Odd it may sound, but I coined this term for him seeing the way he played his masterly square cut. His bat and the front/right leg would both move like a pair of scissors when they clip something - at least that´s how I felt seeing him bat. He had a unique way of batting.



Went through some of those yesterday itself after your post. The tribute video was the best. Sweet, memorable and one that almost made me cry.

I think what resonates with us so much is the fact that his life was a life cut short whilst it was still in its ascendancy. He had burst on to the scene in 2009, a 20 year old kid from country NSW with big dreams, with twin tons against South Africa, the best attack in the world, on their home soil. Precociously talented. But then England exposed his homespun technique in the Ashes and he was dropped, so he could regroup and improve. He was young and had plenty of time. He took it on the chin and worked to get better. He flew to India to talk to Sachin Tendulkar. He talked to Dean Jones. He actually became closer with one of the national selectors, Jamie Cox, after he had been dropped, because he wanted to know how much progress he was making towards his dream.

The last few years he was in and out of the side, always on the periphery, always unable to break in, but you always had the feeling that he was the heir apparent to a top order spot, that they wanted him to be patient, to be hungry, to continue to score mountains of runs, the way they had with Matt Hayden and Damien Martyn. They wanted him in the Australian setup even if all he did was carry the drinks. And he did so without complaint and always with a smile.

And now on the verge of selection, his life is cut short. Unfulfilled. We will never know how good he could have been. His parents will never see his cheery smile lighting up their house. We turn to sport to make us forget about the troubles of life. The troubles of life - war, illness, economic downturns, that's all for the front pages of the newspaper. The back pages are where we escape, and secretly dream with our sporting heroes. Heroes aren't supposed to die doing what they love, doing what we love. All of a sudden the back pages have moved to the front. That's where the dichotomy arises in us.

He was a battler, and he dealt with adversity always in a positive way. That's why I think a lot of us identify with him. People die all the time. Famous people, and people we never heard about. Why did this death strike a nerve with us? Because he died doing what we all love, playing cricket. He could have been our mate, our brother, our son. Just a bloke chasing his dreams and not quite achieving them yet - like a lot of us. His imperfections made him one of us.

 

[Saqs]

I think what resonates with us so much is the fact that his life was a life cut short whilst it was still in its ascendancy. He had burst on to the scene in 2009, a 20 year old kid from country NSW with big dreams, with twin tons against South Africa, the best attack in the world, on their home soil. Precociously talented. But then England exposed his homespun technique in the Ashes and he was dropped, so he could regroup and improve. He was young and had plenty of time. He took it on the chin and worked to get better. He flew to India to talk to Sachin Tendulkar. He talked to Dean Jones. He actually became closer with one of the national selectors, Jamie Cox, after he had been dropped, because he wanted to know how much progress he was making towards his dream.

The last few years he was in and out of the side, always on the periphery, always unable to break in, but you always had the feeling that he was the heir apparent to a top order spot, that they wanted him to be patient, to be hungry, to continue to score mountains of runs, the way they had with Matt Hayden and Damien Martyn. They wanted him in the Australian setup even if all he did was carry the drinks. And he did so without complaint and always with a smile.

And now on the verge of selection, his life is cut short. Unfulfilled. We will never know how good he could have been. His parents will never see his cheery smile lighting up their house. We turn to sport to make us forget about the troubles of life. The troubles of life - war, illness, economic downturns, that's all for the front pages of the newspaper. The back pages are where we escape, and secretly dream with our sporting heroes. Heroes aren't supposed to die doing what they love, doing what we love. All of a sudden the back pages have moved to the front. That's where the dichotomy arises in us.

He was a battler, and he dealt with adversity always in a positive way. That's why I think a lot of us identify with him. People die all the time. Famous people, and people we never heard about. Why did this death strike a nerve with us? Because he died doing what we all love, playing cricket. He could have been our mate, our brother, our son. Just a bloke chasing his dreams and not quite achieving them yet - like a lot of us. His imperfections made him one of us.

Top post.

 

[psyoptica]

You will be missed Hughsey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMsRTpBsHnY

 

[Friend786]

 

[sabre1486]

that video of clake fighting back his tears to put out a statement really got to me...horrible horrible thing to have happened.

 

[Space Cat]

Every cricket club here in Christchurch had a minute silence before each match in honour of Phil Hughes.
Heres the 4 sides playing on our home ground including my side on the far left. Very somber moment.

 

[dhump]

I cant get over it as much as I try I am never so touched a the death of someone not related to me. I cant even tell how fellow players from Australia and other countries are feeling. This incident completely changed the whole perspective how I watched cricket and honestly speaking cricket will never be the same it seems like.

 

[DHONI183]

Condolences Thread: Phillip Hughes Passes Away

Today would have been his 26th birthday. I saw Michael Clarke doing the count down in minutes to to 0:00 AM yesterday on Twitter. Clearly, he is deeply affected by it, like many of us. He is indeed proving to be like a son/brother to the Hughes family.

It´s just too hard to accept.

I think what resonates with us so much is the fact that his life was a life cut short whilst it was still in its ascendancy. He had burst on to the scene in 2009, a 20 year old kid from country NSW with big dreams, with twin tons against South Africa, the best attack in the world, on their home soil. Precociously talented. But then England exposed his homespun technique in the Ashes and he was dropped, so he could regroup and improve. He was young and had plenty of time. He took it on the chin and worked to get better. He flew to India to talk to Sachin Tendulkar. He talked to Dean Jones. He actually became closer with one of the national selectors, Jamie Cox, after he had been dropped, because he wanted to know how much progress he was making towards his dream.

The last few years he was in and out of the side, always on the periphery, always unable to break in, but you always had the feeling that he was the heir apparent to a top order spot, that they wanted him to be patient, to be hungry, to continue to score mountains of runs, the way they had with Matt Hayden and Damien Martyn. They wanted him in the Australian setup even if all he did was carry the drinks. And he did so without complaint and always with a smile.

And now on the verge of selection, his life is cut short. Unfulfilled. We will never know how good he could have been. His parents will never see his cheery smile lighting up their house. We turn to sport to make us forget about the troubles of life. The troubles of life - war, illness, economic downturns, that's all for the front pages of the newspaper. The back pages are where we escape, and secretly dream with our sporting heroes. Heroes aren't supposed to die doing what they love, doing what we love. All of a sudden the back pages have moved to the front. That's where the dichotomy arises in us.

He was a battler, and he dealt with adversity always in a positive way. That's why I think a lot of us identify with him. People die all the time. Famous people, and people we never heard about. Why did this death strike a nerve with us? Because he died doing what we all love, playing cricket. He could have been our mate, our brother, our son. Just a bloke chasing his dreams and not quite achieving them yet - like a lot of us. His imperfections made him one of us.

A wonderful post, sir! You have summarised the whole main point of our grief quite accurately in the bit in bold. I turn to sports to forget my own life´s trouble, all my pains and my suffering, and not to hear and read about further troubles and sufferings of others. My heart pains when I think about his team-mates, family and of course Sean Abbot. I seriously doubt that he will be able to resume a career. Maybe, only immense support and a treatment like Phil´s surviving brother who has to fulfill his deceased brother´s dream can help?

 

[Convict]

Today would have been his 26th birthday. I saw Michael Clarke doing the count down in minutes to to 0:00 AM yesterday on Twitter. Clearly, he is deeply affected by it, like many of us. He is indeed proving to be like a son/brother to the Hughes family.

It´s just too hard to accept.



A wonderful post, sir! You have summarised the whole main point of our grief quite accurately in the bit in bold. I turn to sports to forget my own life´s trouble, all my pains and my suffering, and not to hear and read about further troubles and sufferings of others. My heart pains when I think about his team-mates, family and of course Sean Abbot. I seriously doubt that he will be able to resume a career. Maybe, only immense support and a treatment like Phil´s surviving brother who has to fulfill his deceased brother´s dream can help?

Clarke said he will bat in the nets Abbott feels ready

 

[Saqs]

Yeah his birthday tribute to Hughes was pretty good.

 

[OZGOD]

I cant get over it as much as I try I am never so touched a the death of someone not related to me. I cant even tell how fellow players from Australia and other countries are feeling. This incident completely changed the whole perspective how I watched cricket and honestly speaking cricket will never be the same it seems like.

I'm finding it very difficult to get over too and I don't know why. I didn't even meet the guy but his death has really hit me for some reason. Like I lost a member of my own family I will probably get over it after a week or so but I can't stop thinking about it. I really identified with him somehow.

 

[mmkextreme_1]

I cant get over it as much as I try I am never so touched a the death of someone not related to me. I cant even tell how fellow players from Australia and other countries are feeling. This incident completely changed the whole perspective how I watched cricket and honestly speaking cricket will never be the same it seems like.

This. I have never been so affected by a death of someone who's not close to me. I think [MENTION=190]OZGOD[/MENTION] did a great job explaining the overall situation.

I still can't believe that he is gone, I have gone to his profile on cricinfo a few times (saw his profile during the recent Pakistan vs Australia series) and seeing the word "Died" really get to me, I'm still in a state of shock. Cricket will definitely not be the same for me anymore, I can't even begin to imagine what the Australian team is going through.

Happy Birthday Phillip! You will always be remembered and missed! May your soul Rest In Peace!

A very good quote this:

"It has been said that time heals all wounds. The truth is that time does not heal anything. It merely passes. it is what we do during the passing of time that helps or hinders the healing process."
-- Jay Marshall

 

[mmkextreme_1]

Saw this tribute image on Twitter with the caption: Phil Hughes 63 not out joins the crease with a new batting partner.
This is so beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes.

View attachment 51062

Everytime I look at this picture, it brings tears to my eyes.

 

[hefaith]

1 year on after his death. Can't believe how quickly it went I feel though as it was just yesterday I heard about him being hit on head

 

[pillionrider]

Hughes would have cringed at the manner in which some of his mates have milked his tragedy.

Since I don't believe in an after life, I have nothing more to say, other than maybe I'll fish out knocks of his tour of SA or his Champions league knocks and watch them later tonight.

 

[MenInG]

Two years have passed by.

 

[Donal Cozzie]

Incredible to think its been so long.

Wont ever forget waking up. Had heard he had a head injury the day before and was in hospital, woke up to see cricinfo's homepage black and that he'd died. Couldn't believe it.

 

[Convict]

I was watching the CA stream at the time.

Its definitely feels like the past now but still also feels just like yesterday.

 

[Major]

for 4 months i was scared to bat in the nets because of this incident

 

[Hasan123]

A very sad and dark day for cricket

 

[aloo paratha]

Dark day...

 

[90MPH]

So sad, time has just flown by as it felt he was only playing yesterday. RIP.

 

[Abdullah719]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Travis Head, South Australian teammate of the late Phillip Hughes "Every time I go out to bat I think of Phillip Hughes" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AusvPak?src=hash">#AusvPak</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/824736940058611712">January 26, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Hasan123]

Was distraught when I heard about his death and Pups speech about Hughes was very emotional.

 

[hadi123]

3 years to the day he died (November 27). Still remember how I found out about his death as you can see if you look back on this thread. Tragic day, wonder whether Australia will do something if (when) they win this Test match dedicated to him.

 

[James]

25 years old is an obscene age to die. I was born slightly after Phillip but am now several years older than he was when he died. And I feel like my life is just getting started. One of cricket’s saddest days.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThrowbackThursday?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThrowbackThursday</a> - Phillip Hughes, who was born <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnThisDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OnThisDay</a> in 1988, became the youngest player to score two centuries in a Test when he hit 115 and 160 v South Africa in 2009. <a href="https://t.co/AvpXWRnYqL">pic.twitter.com/AvpXWRnYqL</a></p>— ICC (@ICC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ICC/status/936142759072854016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[asfandyar]

Even though many people in our neighborhood had no idea who Hughes was before his death, almost everyone here was taken over by a sense of grief once we heard the news. It was tragic, almost unbelievable, how with all the protection that batsmen are provided these days, a ball could hit an obscure area of the body at exactly the right spot to cause his untimely demise.

I remember the day that Hughes died. A few days earlier, I had spent time on Cricinfo looking at Australia's domestic setup, envying the talent they had in reserve and creating dream combinations. Hughes, being an opener featured in a few of them.

Most of PPers who have read my posts (and hated them) will tell you that I have OCD for stats. Phil had near perfect stats in domestics, but had failed to replicate the performances at the international level. Investigation of this mismatch in stats has been a favorite pastime of mine, and I have spent countless hours diving deep into domestic and international stats of players like Shafiq, Pujara, Ballance to find the cause. Phil was one such anomaly.

Yet all my investigations came to a halt when I heard the news of his demise. Having viewed some of his batting videos a few days back, it was unfathomable how we would never be able to see that scrumptious cut shot that he had only recently taught in a Cricket Australia masterclass video.

I believe many others may have shared the same sentiments. I wasn't able to sleep properly for the whole week, not because I was a huge fan of Hughes, but because of his young death, As another poster pointed out, he was older than me then, but now I am older than him and it feels terrible.

 

[Markhor]

Very hard thread to read back over.

Richie Benaud's voiceover for that tribute just broke me, more poignant now since Benaud himself passed away a few months later.

Hopefully the safety equipment will improve so that we never, ever see this tragedy happen again.

 

[Abdullah719]

4 years to the day. So sad.

 

[Boiz Played Well]

As the anthem played after Phillip Hughes’ death, Darren Lehmann didn’t know if all 11 could play

When Phillip Hughes tragically passed away in November 2014, then-Australian coach Darren Lehmann didn’t even know if he would be able to field 11 players in the Test series that followed.

Training and practising in the nets was extremely difficult, with former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin admitting bowlers are still hesitant to bowl bouncers.

But somehow, the players continued on with their Test series against India, with opener – and Hughes’ close friend – David Warner remarkably scoring a century in the Fourth Test in Sydney.

Haddin was keeping an eye on his close mate before the start of play and didn’t think he would even make it out there, let alone score one of the most emotional centuries of his career.

“So David Warner didn’t bat for the week then went out and scored that amazing 100,” Haddin told Fox Sports’ The Back Page.

“I remember watching him during the anthem, I didn’t think he was going to play the game.

“Then we ended up batting first and he went out and he got 100.”

In the lead-up to his score, Haddin remembered the dull feeling in the squad during preparations for the Test match.

“Everyone deals with the tragedy differently,” Haddin said.

“I remember Darren Lehmann, the first training session we had after Phil’s passing, he just said, ‘There’s training, I have no idea how everyone’s going to react.’

“Some guys could get through training, others couldn’t deal with it.

“Come game day, he said the same thing.

“He said, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to have 11 players here but I don’t care.

“It’s bigger than the game, it’s about people.

“So if you walk out and do the anthem and can’t play, well that’s okay with me.’”

On reflection, Haddin praised Lehmann for his handling of the tragic situation, highlighting his ability to allow everyone to deal with Hughes’ passing in their own way.

“He didn’t know how anyone was going to react,” Haddin said.

“We didn’t know if people were going to play, we didn’t know if they were going to go back into the nets.

“He didn’t try to coach us. He didn’t try to say, ‘This is the recovery period, this is when you should be feeling this,’ because everyone deals with it differently.

“He just said, ‘You guys deal with it how you can, we’ll put everything around you that you need, but it’s up to you.’”

https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricke...h/news-story/e6de6f6cabd1fe0a7dda7fbd5294970d

 

[Abdullah719]

25 Nov 2014. 5 years to the day, when Hughes was hospitalised after being hit.

 

[Hitman]

I just hope his family and friends have and are still coping well after the tragedy. Still remember Michael Clarke sobbing while addressing the media. Was so heartbreaking.

RIP, Phil Hughes!

 

[Abdullah719]

6 years ago.