The Last Cricket League
Phillip Joel Hughes was born on 30th November 1988. He was born to Greg and his Italian wife Virginia. His father was a Banana Farmer in Macksville which is located on the north coast of New South Wales. He was interested in Cricket from his childhood and had an ambition to play for the national team. Hughes also was interested in Rugby and also played the Rugby League with the international player Greg Inglis. At his childhood he played cricket for Macksville RSL Cricket Club. His performance helped the player to get a place in Western Suburbs District Cricket Club. He represented the Australian Under-19 World Cup in the year 2007. But he did not perform well in the tournament.
He was given a chance to play for the New South Wales domestic team against the Tasmania in the year 2007. The left handed batsman had a good start to his domestic carrier by scoring 51 runs for his team. The team won the test match by an inning and 35 runs. His form continued with some good scores in the domestic arena for teams like New South Wales, East Torrens, Hampshire, Middlesex, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Suburbs and Worcestershire. Totally he has played 114 matches for different teams and has scored 9023 runs at an Average of 46.51. His highest score of 243 not out came for Australia A team playing against the South African A team on August 17th 2014. This innings helped him to be recalled in the Australian national side for the Pakistan tour.
The Test debut came against the South African team on the 26th of February 2009. The debut was not good as his domestic debut. He was out for a duck in the first over of the match by Dale Styne. But he came back strongly in the second innings by scoring 75 runs off 121 balls. The innings of 75 helped the team to win the test match by 162 runs. He then played for the Australian team in 25 test matches in total. He scored back to back centuries in the second test in the same tournament. He scored 115 runs in the first innings and 160 runs in the second. This made the media to compare him with great Don Bradman. The batting average was around hundred after the two tests he played. But a bad series against the New Zealand team made the Australian Board to drop him from the squad. The highest score in International test match for Hughes is 160 scored by him in his second test match against the African. He has 3 hundreds and 7 fifties out of 49 innings he played.
His debut in One Day International was against the Srilankan team at Melbourne Cricket Ground. He scored a century in his first match. The Australian cricket Board was happy about this innings and declared that he may be Australia’s opener in the future. Australia won this match by 107 runs and took a lead in the series. Again he scored a century in the 5th match of the series coming after the fall of Warner’s wicket. The innings of 138 not out is the best One Day International score of the 25 One Day Internationals he played. But the best One Day innings came when he scored 202 runs in a List A match. But that was not counted with his international records.
PJ Hughes made his T20 debut for New South Wales against the Queensland team in the year 2008 at Brisbane Cricket Ground. He showed his class in this match by scoring 80 runs off just 60 balls with 9 fours and a six. The team won the match by 5 wickets with 2 balls to spare. After this he has played for many domestic teams scoring quick runs in the format. This made him to be given a place in the Mumbai Indians side in the IPL. The only T20 match played for Australia was against the Pakistan team at Dubai on the 5th of October 2014. He was dismissed by Wahab Riaz after scoring 6 runs from 7 balls.
The day was 25th November 2014. The match was between New South Wales and South Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground. South Australia has won the toss and elected to bat first in a good pitch for some bounce and also batting. The openers had a good start and going well. The first wicket fell when the score was 61 on board. Then again there was a 61 runs second wicket partnership. The team was reduced to 122/2 after 40.1 over. TW Cooper came to the crease to join PJ Hughes. It was the third ball of the 48th over when SA Abbott attempted a bouncer which was successful. That hit PJ Hughes neck and after some steps forward he fell on the ground. That was the last time he was conscious and the end of a great batsman came after two days in hospital. Phillip Joel Hughes the man from New South Wales played his last innings against the same team he debuted.
All the Cricket matches were abandoned due to his death. New Zealand and Pakistan called off the day, India –Cricket Australia warm up match is cancelled and Sheffield Shield Cup is called off.
