By Admin 
In the history of cricket, ’27 November’ is remembered as ‘Black Day’. On this day the cricket world had lost a rising player forever. On this very day 11 years ago, Australian cricketer Phil Hughes left this world. Two days ago, the player who was batting on the field was seriously injured during the match. While batting, Hughes was hit by a ball on his neck and he fell unconscious on the ground. After this his eyes closed so that they could never open again. This incident shocked the entire sports world.
The match between South Australia and New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield started on 25 November 2014 on the Sydney grounds.
South Australian captain Johan Botha won the toss and decided to bat first. November 30 was Phil Hughes’ birthday. Hughes wanted to celebrate the victory, but fate had other plans.
Phil Hughes entered the field as an opening batsman with Mark Cosgrove in this match. Both the players made a partnership of 61 runs in 23.4 overs.
Mark Cosgrove was out after scoring 32 runs in 68 balls. He was caught out by Nathan Lyon. This innings of Cosgrove included 9 fours. From here Phil Hughes along with Callum Ferguson scored 61 runs for the second wicket. Ferguson returned to the pavilion after scoring 28 runs in 41 balls with the help of 4 fours.
Tom Cooper came out to bat at number four. The aim of both the players was to put South Australia in a strong position from here, but the 49th over proved to be the ‘last over’ of the match.
Sean Abbott was bowling his 10th over. He was looking for his first wicket. Hughes was unbeaten after scoring 63 runs. His innings included 9 fours. In 48.3 overs, Abbott’s ball hit Phil Hughes’ neck.
Hughes sat on the field at that very moment. Abbott immediately came to him. Meanwhile Hughes lost his balance. The opposition teammates supported him, but by then Hughes had become unconscious. Hughes was immediately rushed to the hospital, where every effort was made to save him, but on November 27, this rising star said goodbye to the world.
After this incident with Phil Hughes, many security related changes took place in the cricket world. The helmet was made stronger. More attention was paid to the safety of batsmen and new rules like ‘concussion substitute’ were implemented.
Phil Hughes played 26 Test matches for Australia, scoring 1,535 runs with 3 centuries and 7 half-centuries. At the same time, in 25 ODI matches, he added 826 runs with 2 centuries and 4 half-centuries. After the death of Phil Hughes, Cricket Australia retired ‘jersey number 64’ in his honour.
RSG/ABM