It was nothing more than a normal bouncer for any batsman. He was playing a normal pull that any Australian can play easily. Misses and hits are part of a Cricketer’s life. Unfortunately, Phillip Hughes was not that lucky. The talented lad, all of just 25 years was set to replace Clarke against India in the first test, but destiny had the sad ending. People are trying to find reasons to blame, some like to debate the pace, some want to debate about safety in such games, some want to discuss helmet. As sanity prevails, nobody is blaming the bowler. It is a sad incident. Let us just pay homage to late Phil without getting into the blame game.
The son of a banana farmer and an Italian mother suffered during the incident that happened during the match when he missed the attempted pull shot and the bouncer struck him at an angle on head that made him faint and almost motionless on the pitch. The reports claim the helmet was an old one. The ball did not even touch the helmet because as per the reports the helmet was outdated.
The Australian team doctor tried his best to keep him alive. He succeeded in making him reach the hospital. Thankfully, the medical attention, the ambulance and the hospital treatment all happened very fast. It was a rare sight on a Cricket Ground when an ambulance reached the pitch. Unfortunately, he was too badly hurt and succumbed to injury after fighting for more than a day in the hospital.
The incident made Cricket poorer by a talented player who already had 5 centuries. Hopefully, the Cricket administrators would ensure that safety is considered priority. It is not about punishing the bowler or stopping the bouncers. The bowler did not throw any beamer. It was just another bouncer and not that menacing too. Phil also did not do much wrong. He was just trying to score quick runs and hitting a bouncer out of park is specialty of Australians. It was just about that helmet. Probably if the helmet was a regular modern one, the ball might not have hit him so hard.
Phil’s International Statistics
His Test career started at Johannesburg vs South Africa on February 26, 2009. His ODI career took 4 more years to start when he played at Melbourne against Sri Lanka on January 11, 2014. He was part of Australia’s recent tour against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi when he played his last international match on October 12, 2014. During that series only he played his Only T20I, against Pakistan.
He played 26 Test matches and scored 1535 runs in 49 innings with 3 centuries and 7 half-centuries at an average of 32.65.
In 24 innings of 25 ODIs he has scored 826 runs with 2 centuries and 4 half-centuries at an average of 35.91. In the only T20I he played, he scored 6 runs.
His two test centuries came against South Africa at Durban in 2009. Third test century was against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2011. Both his ODI centuries were against Sri Lanka at Melbourne and Hobart in 2013.
Besides Australia, he has represented his home state New South Wales, Sydney Thunder, South Australia and Adelaide Strikers. Among international teams he has played for Middlesex, Hampshire and Worcestershire in England, and Mumbai Indians of India.
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