Phillip Hughes passed away at age of just three days short of 26. Bharath Seervi pays a tribute on this shocking death of one of the best talents in Australian domestic circuit and highlights some numbers, statistics and records of Phillip Hughes in his short career.
November 27, 2014 will perhaps be known as the dark day in cricket owing to a shocking death of the Phillip Hughes. He passed away three days short of his 26th birthday, having born on November 30, 1988 at Macksville, New South Wales (NSW).
Hughes, playing for South Australia in the Sheffield Shield match against NSW at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), was hit by a bouncer bowled by Sean Abbott (who was 23 himself when this incident took place). Hughes was put into induced coma and was treated at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney for two days before leaving the life two days later. The shattering news broke out two days later.
Let us see the highlights of Hughes’ career.
Debut at Under-17:
Hughes made his debut NSW Under-17s against Tasmania Under-17s at Hurstville Oval, Sydney on January 9, 2006. He led his side on debut in the Commonwealth Bank (CB) Under-17 Championship 2005-06. Opening batting, Hughes scored 51 off 80 balls to drive his team to the victory.
Hughes played six Under-17 matches and scored four fifties. The run was 51, six, 71, 76, two and 51, amounting to 257 runs at 42.83 in six innings which. It was fifth-highest aggregate in the tournament. He was the only batsman to score four fifties in the tournament still.
Most runs in CB Under-17 Championship 2005/06
Runs
Batsman
Team
Inns
Ave
100s/50s
Best
392
Michael Hill
Victoria Under-17s
5
98.00
2/1
141
282
Tim Monteleone
WA Under-17s
6
56.40
1/1
118
264
James Phathanak
NSW Under-17s
6
44.00
0/2
93
261
Tim Buszard
Victoria Under-17s
5
65.25
0/3
84
257
Phillip Hughes
NSW Under-17s
6
42.83
0/4
76
Debut at Under-19:
In the next season, Hughes was selected for NSW Under-19 in the CB Under-19 Championship. He had a very good tournament and finished as the third-highest run getter with 324 runs from seven innings at 54.00; he managed a century and two half-centuries. He scored the highest individual score of the tournament — 167 against Western Australia Under-19s; it was the only 150+ score of the tournament.
Most runs in CB Under-19 Championship 2006/07
Runs
Batsman
Team
Inns
Ave
100s/50s
Best
426
Matthew Wade
Tasmania Under-19s
7
60.85
1/2
143
326
Luke Towers
WA Under-19s
8
40.75
0/3
92
324
Jon Wells
Tasmania Under-19s
9
40.50
1/1
114
324
Phillip Hughes
NSW Under-19s
7
54.00
1/2
167
International Under-19s:
After a good series in the domestic Under-19 tournament, Hughes was selected in the Australia Under-19s team against the visiting Pakistan Under-19s. He continued his brilliant form scoring 101, 101, 48 not out, 63 and 74 in the five matches of the series in April 2007.
Hughes played in the Cricket Australia Emerging Players Tournament in Australia and Buchi Babu Invitation Tournament in India and State League Cup later in the year with a moderate performance.
First-Class and List A debuts:
Hughes’ consistent performances at the age-level tournaments helped him find his way to First-Class cricket for NSW in 2007-08. He made his debut 10 days before his 19th birthday. He scored 51 in his maiden innings and never looked back. He hit only one century in the season (116 vs Victoria) but had six fifties under his belt.
He was not the top run-getter in the season but his average of 62.11 to score 559 runs from 12 innings was the second-best among all the batsmen who scored over 500 runs in that season. He did not play all matches in the season. He played only seven of the 11 matches played by NSW but was the second-highest run-getter for his team still.
Highest batting average in Pura Cup 2007/08 (Min. 500 runs)
Ave
Batsman
Team
Inns
Runs
100s/50s
Best
94.12
Simon Katich
NSW
17
1506
5/8
306
62.11
Phillip Hughes
NSW
12
559
1/6
116
61.91
Luke Pomersbach
WA
14
743
2/5
176
60.27
Shaun Marsh
WA
15
663
0/4
99
Along with playing in Pura Cup, he also made his debut in List A cricket in the Ford Ranger Cup in the same season for NSW. He again scored a fifty on this debut: this time, it was 68 against Victoria at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). He played only three matches in the series.
The career-changing 2008/09 domestic season and Test debut:
Hughes continued his form in the second season. He scored even more runs this time. In the seven matches he played in the Shield in the season he scored 891 runs at 74.25. The tally included four centuries and three half-centuries. In spite of not playing the full tournament he was the third-highest run-getter. He played big knocks of 198 and 151 in the season and was eligible to make his Test debut to fill up the big boots of of Matthew Hayden.
Highest batting average in Sheffield Shield 2008/09 (Min. 500 runs)
Avg
Batsman
Team
Inns
Runs
100s/50s
Best
74.68
Chris Rogers
Victoria
19
1195
5/5
159
74.25
Phillip Hughes
NSW
13
891
4/3
198
70.76
Michael Klinger
SA
19
1203
4/4
255
61.76
Brad Hodge
Victoria
14
803
2/4
261
Hughes made his debut for Australia in South Africa along with Ben Hilfenhaus and Marcus North. He was the 408th cap for Australia in Tests. He was dismissed in the very first over of the match for a duck by Dale Steyn, but played a fine knock in the second outing: he scored 75 runs and the second highest score was 37. It made Australia set a target of 454 and won the match by 162 runs.
Hughes became only the fifth Australian to score a duck and a fifty on Test debut.
Australian batsmen scoring a duck and a 50+ score in debut test match
Batsman
1st inn
2nd inn
Against
Venue
Year
Joe Darling
0
53
England
SCG
1894
Albert Hartkopf
80
0
England
MCG
1925
Michael Bevan
82
0
Pakistan
Karachi
1994
GR Robertson
57
0
India
Chepauk
1998
Phillip Hughes
0
75
South Africa
New Wanderers
2009
The record-breaking second Test:
The second Test at Durban was a special one for Hughes: he scored 115 and 160. It was only his second Test, and he was only 20 years 96 days old. He thus became the youngest batsman to score two centuries in a Test. He also became the tenth man to score two centuries by the second Test of his career.
Batsmen scoring two centuries by the end of career’s first two test matches
Bill Ponsford (Aus) — 1924-25
Doug Walters (Aus) — 1965
Lawrence Rowe (WI) — 1972
Alvin Kallicharran (WI) — 1972
Mohammad Azharuddin (Ind) -1984-85
Greg Blewett (Aus) — 1995
Sourav Ganguly (Ind) — 1996
Wajahatullah Wasti (Pak) — 1999
Yasir Hameed (Pak) — 2003
Phillip Hughes (Aus) — 2009
Rohit Sharma (Ind) — 2013
Jimmy Neesham (NZ) — 2014
Youngest batsmen to score two centuries in a Test match
Age
Batsman
1st inn
2nd inn
For
Against
Venue
Year
20y 96d
Phillip Hughes
115
160
Australia
South Africa
Kingsmead
2009
20y 267d
George Headley
114
112
West Indies
England
Bourda
1930
21y 228d
Garry Sobers
125
109*
West Indies
Pakistan
Bourda
1958
21y 277d
Sunil Gavaskar
124
220
India
West Indies
Queen’s Park Oval
1971
Hughes is the fourth-youngest from Australia to score a Test century after Neil Harvey, Archie Jackson, and Doug Walters.
He is the also the third youngest to score a Test century against South Africa after Giff Vivian and Sachin Tendulkar.
Hughes was awarded the Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year in 2009.
T20 debut:
After successful First-Class and List-A debuts, he made his debut in T20 cricket in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in the season of 2008/09. Like his debuts in the other two formats, scored a 50+ score on T20 debut as well. Playing for NSW against Queensland he scored an unbeaten 80 off 60 balls at The Gabba on December 26, 2008. He never played a lot of T20s, though he had a good run in the inaugural Champions League of 2009. NSW ended up winning it.
Domestic cricket in England (County and Friends Provident)
Hughes tried his hand in English domestic cricket as well. He made his County Championship debut in 2009 for Middlesex, scoring 118 on debut. He had an outstanding season, batting in five innings and scoring 118, 65 not out, 139, 195 and 57 (574 runs at 143.50).
He played two more seasons there — 2010 for Hampshire and 2012 for Worcestershire — with moderate success. He also played in the domestic one-day tournament (Friends Provident Trophy) as well. On this debut as well he scored 74. He had good scores and was in good touch.
ODI debut and a century:
Hughes’ form dropped a bit after his excellent start in Test cricket. He made his ODI debut in 2013 (four years after his Test debut). Living up to his reputation of beginning with a bang, he slammed a hundred on debut. He scored 112 runs making his ODI debut against Sri Lanka at MCG, being the first Australian to do so. He scored another century, 138 not out, in the final ODI of the series at Hobart. He did not score another century in his career of 25 ODIs but did score three scores in 80s excess of 80.
Hughes was awarded the Australian Domestic Player of the Year in 2013.
First double- century by an Aussie in List-A cricket
Playing for Australia A against South Africa A in the Darwin Quadrangular One-Day, Hughes smashed a record unbeaten 202 runs on July 29, 2014. It was the first double-century by an Australian in List A cricket. His score was then surpassed by Ben Dunk (229 not out) in November 13.
Highest individual scores by Aussies in List-A cricket:
Runs (Balls)
Batsman
For
Against
Venue
Date
229* (157)
Ben Dunk
Tasmania
Queensland
SCG
November 13, 2014
202* (151)
Phillip Hughes
Australia A
South Africa A
Darwin
July 29, 2014
197 (141)
David Warner
NSW
Victoria
SCG
October 24, 2013
191 (103)
Darren Lehmann
Yorkshire
Nottinghamshire
Scarborough
August 26, 2001
In Indian Premier League
Hughes was bought by Mumbai Indians in the IPL player auction in 2013. He did not play any match for them though.
Highest batting average in T20 cricket
Hughes played 34 matches in his T20 career and scored 1,110 runs at 42.69 with 10 fifties. His average is the highest among all the batsmen who scored over 1,000 runs in T20 cricket.
Ave
Batsman
Mat
Inns
Runs
SR
100s/50s
Best
42.69
Phillip Hughes
34
34
1110
117.21
0/10
87*
42.10
Chris Gayle
190
186
6779
146.22
13/43
175*
41.08
Shaun Marsh
115
113
4026
129.91
2/30
115
39.53
Dean Elgar
50
46
1265
109.90
0/8
72
Hughes made his T20I debut about 50 days before, on October 5, 2014 against Pakistan at Dubai. It was his only T20I match. He scored two First-Class double-centuries and three 190s (198, 195 and 192).
Phillip Hughes — Career Summary (November 20, 2007 to November 25, 2014)
Format
Mat
Inns
Runs
Ave
SR
100s
50s
Ct
St
Best
Test
26
49
1,535
32.65
53.55
3
7
15
0
160
ODI
25
24
826
35.91
75.09
2
4
5
0
138*
T20I
1
1
6
6.00
75.00
0
0
0
0
6
First-Class
114
209
9,023
46.51
57.11
26
46
72
0
243*
List A
91
89
3,639
47.25
77.90
8
23
30
0
202*
T20
34
34
1,110
42.69
117.21
0
10
16
0
87*
Among all the players with at least 20 innings in each format of the game, Hughes is the only player to average in excess of 40 in each of the three formats.
Rest in Peace
It is tragic that a cricketer of such caliber and talent is no more in the cricket world. Even before turning 26, he showed his class in all the formats and at all levels right from Under-17s to Test cricket. He finds his name in at least a record in all three formats. It is no doubt that he would have done wonders in future. But death is the ultimate truth of life.
Hughes will definitely missed by the cricket world. It is hard to know that he is the seventh-youngest Test cricketer, sixth-youngest ODI cricketer and the youngest T20I cricketer to pass away.
Rest in Peace.
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)
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