Australian batsman Phil Hughes in action during a test match this year.Australian batsman Phil Hughes in action during a test match this year.

The cricket world was in mourning yesterday following the death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes, who died in a Sydney hospital, two days after being hit in the head by a ball.

A game that is synonymous with the values of fair play and sportsmanship was left heartbroken at the loss of one its favourite sons.

That he died surrounded by his family and friends after being injured playing the game he loved, provided little solace to the millions of people that follow cricket.

“It’s an understatement to say we’re completely devastated,” Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland told reporters.

“The word tragedy gets used too often in sport, but this freak accident is a real life tragedy.”

Australia’s pain was shared by the cricketing world. Cricket, perhaps more than most other sports, is played by a tight-knit community.

Only a handful of countries play the game professionally and opposing players spend months together, often dining and drinking together after matches.

Rarely has cricket been more united than now, the game’s saddest day.

Overwhelmed by emotion, Australia’s players were in tears as they filed out of St Vincent’s hospital after bidding farewell to their team-mate.

The Indian team, currently on tour in Australia, cancelled their two-day practice match that was due to start today.

In Dubai, Pakistan and New Zealand aborted the second day of their test match, the players too distraught to take the field.

At Lord’s, the traditional home of cricket, flags were flown at half mast.

The news of Hughes’ death came like a bolt from the blue.

The 25-year-old had been in an induced coma for two days after being struck by a bouncer from Sean Abbott at the Sydney Ground in a domestic match. He had needed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation before undergoing emergency surgery to reduce the pressure on his brain.

Cricket is not a sport associated with death, so hopes were high that he would survive but the injuries he suffered were catastrophic.

The ball hit him on the side of his neck, compressing his vertebral artery and causing it to split, forcing blood into the brain area.

Doctors removed parts of his skull during the operation but the damage was too severe and he never regained consciousness.

His death will undoubtedly raise questions about safety standards in the game.

Hughes was wearing a helmet but the ball slipped through a tiny gap between his shoulder and the base of his protective hard hat.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, former International Cricket Council chief, said safety standards would have to be reviewed in light of Hughes’ death.

“Injuries are part of cricket but precautions should be taken so that such incidents do not happen,” he said.

Hughes made his first-class debut at 18 and was picked for the Australian team at just 20, scoring twin centuries in his second test match, against South Africa.

From his 26 tests, he scored 1,535 runs at an average of 32.65, with three centuries.

He has also scored two one-day hundreds and seemed certain to be part of the Australian team that will play in next year’s World Cup.

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