Phillip Joel Hughes was born on 30 November 1988 with exceptional batting techniques. Philip Hughes had played domestic cricket for Worcestershire and South Australia. In his international career, he was a strong player in the Australian Test and One Day Internationals (ODIs).
The player died while following his passion in between a match against New South Wales. He was struck by a ball at his neck and hence, after two days of this incident, the player was declared dead at St. Vincent Hospital on 27 November 2014.
Early life and the starting of his career as a Cricketer
From the son of a banana farmer to an International Australian cricketer, Hughes had gone a long way. The cricketer in his early days had tried his hands at football as well. He had also managed to play at the side of former Australia International Greg Inglis because of his talent.
The left-handed batsman soon started excelling at cricket. At the age of 12, he was playing A-Grade cricket for Macksville RSL Cricket Club. After playing at Macksville for almost five years, he moved to Sydney. Where he played for Western Suburbs District Club where he soon made a name for himself.
The batsman on his grade debut scored a solid 141* runs. The player, at the age of 19 became the youngest Australian player to have scored a century in Sheffield Shield Game. His performance made him earn the award of New South Whales Rising Star.Â
International Career
It was just a matter of time that within a year, the cricketer was chosen to play for Australia at ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in 2008 as a Vice-captain of the team.
Even though he was dismissed in the first inning, he showed immense talent in the second inning with a total of 75 runs including six and eleven fours. His performance in the world cup had stunned everyone and it became very clear for Australia that Hughes was there to do big. He became the most exciting young talent in Australia. Â
Hughes didn’t stop right there. It was just the beginning of a new start for him and the world was keen to see his performance in other matches. In the second test match at the Sahara Stadium, Durban, Hughes had earned the title of being the youngest player in the world to hit a century in both the innings of a Test Match.
The techniques used by Hughes were quite modern and thus created some hype. In the 2009 Ashes campaign, his techniques were used against him by the fast bowlers. Who was restricting his way of playing by targeting his upper body? As a result, he didn’t play the next test match. Shane Watson took his place as the opener for the team.
The years after that didn’t prove to be fruitful for the player. He remained a side player for the rest of the matches and was covering for either the injured players or the absent ones.
However, good days were back soon when Phillip got an opportunity in 2010. Where he showcases his talent as a player of the Test squad for the tour of New Zealand. There he managed to score 86 runs off 75 balls in the fourth inning. In 2011, he was more or less a regular player in the team but due to his inconsistency that couldn’t stay for long.
He was dismissed from the international arena for a year. But, he was called up again in 2013 for the Test Series against Sri Lanka. Where he made an impressive international comeback with 86 runs in the first Test Match.
During the whole series, Hughes had managed to make two half-centuries and 233 runs off 46.60. This performance had confirmed his place in the ODI squad where he had left no stone unturned. He became the first Australian to create a century on debut with 112 runs off 129 balls.Â
After this, Phillips became unstoppable. He was then selected for a Test Series in India in 2013. In which he didn’t have much of a showcase and his average could only reach 18.37. However, the batsman created a world record with Ashton Agar by managing a partnership of 163 runs.Â
Phillip Hughes Accidental Death
Phillip Hughes died doing what he loved the most, doing what made him the star of Australia. At a very young age of 25, some 3 days before the player’s 26th birthday, the batsman bid goodbye to the world in the worst of a possible scenario.
The way he died became a topic of national discussion and had created some doubt in the minds of people. Â
It was just a fine day and a regular Sheffield Shield match between South Australia and New South Whales that was getting played at the popular Sydney Cricket Ground (SGC).
It was an important match for Phillip as he was on the outer edge for over a year. Thus wanted to make an impression in front of the selecting committee for a significant Test Series. That was just a couple of weeks away. The Australian opener was batting well and was at 63 when a ball thrown by Sean Abbott hit his neck making him unconscious. He was hurriedly taken to St. Vincent Hospital, Sydney where he was declared to be in a coma.
Hughes’s injury was described as a sport-related cerebrovascular injury. It was found that his vertebral artery dissection had led him to subarachnoid haemorrhage. After two days of remaining in the ICU, the player finally bid goodbye to the world on 27 November 2014.
Australia had lost one of its rising stars who could have been the new face of the Australian Cricket Team.
Even though no subsequent action was taken against the bowler Sean Abbott, and the death was termed as accidental. But, a lot of improvements were made in the helmets used by the players and some other protection guards too have been made mandatory. Â
