Published By: Rohit Chatterjee

On This Day (Nov. 30): A Talent Gone Too Soon – Happy B’day, Phillip Hughes

On November 27, 2014, Phillip Hughes passed away at the age of 25—an incident that cricket fans have not been able to forget even today

Injuries are part and parcel of cricket, but fatalities? Not really. However, 10 years ago, on November 27, 2014, a tragic bouncer left the cricketing world in shock when it hit Phillip Hughes. A prodigious Aussie batter, touted to be the next great thing, fell on his face after getting hit by a Sean Abbott bouncer playing for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield game. Hughes never recovered and tragically passed away at the age of 25.

Today, November 30, marks his birthday, and this year, had he been alive, he would've turned 36.

Hughes left us a decade ago at 25, but he was not one of those rare prodigious talents who lived up to the great expectations. Of course, there were a few ups and downs, but he never derailed from his track.

Junior toying with seniors

Born in Macksville, New South Wales, Hughes grew up playing for Macksville RSL Cricket Club. By the time he reached age 12, he was already playing A-Grade games, toying with the senior bowlers. Even in Representative Cricket, he had scored a century.

A record-breaking debut

Hughes had scored 51 and 137 in two innings while representing New South Wales Second XI versus Victoria's Second XI, which earned him a first-class debut. When he made his debut, he was only 18, becoming the youngest-ever batter to debut for New South Wales since Michael Clarke in 1999. And what a phenomenal rookie season he had, scoring 559 runs in seven matches, including six fifties and one century.

That season, he was also part of the Pura Cup, and in the final game, he stunned the spectators with 116 against Victoria—the youngest to score a century in the Pura Cup final.

Filling in big shoes

Finally, the time had arrived for Phillip Hughes to showcase his extraordinaire to the world. When the 2009 Test series against South Africa was about to happen, Phillip Hughes was given a call to replace the retired Matthew Hayden.

A nervous 20-year-old went home for a duck in his first innings. However, he returned with a composed mind and scored 75 runs in the second innings. What followed was an immaculately crafted century in the second game, and within no time, Phillip Hughes turned himself into a sensation. The spectators in Durban witnessed the arrival of a legend on the global stage as Hughes had become the youngest ever to achieve this feat.

However, his Test career saw a slump as he was regularly dropped and then brought back and dropped again from the Test side. He played 26 Tests, amassing 1,535 runs at an average of 32.65, including three centuries and seven fifties.

A one-day record

It took Hughes four years to break into the one-day side of Australia after his Test debut, but he quickly showed his prowess in the shorter format of the game. He became the first Australian to score a double century in a List A game and also scored an unbeaten 243, his career highest for Australia A.

On January 11, 2013, Hughes created history in one-day when he scored 112 runs against Sri Lanka in Melbourne—the first Australian to do so on his one-day debut game.

His one-day career saw him accumulating 826 runs in 25 games at an average of 35.91, including two centuries and four fifties.

Every year on this day, the cricketing fraternity pays tribute to the fallen by displaying "63 Not Out" on scoreboards, posters, t-shirts, social media platforms, etc. 63 was Hughes' score when he fell on the pitch.