By Justin RouillonWednesday 27 Nov 2024TV and StreamingReading Time: 3 minutes
Main Image: Cricket bats and hats were placed outside houses, workplaces and cricket clubs following the death of Phillip Hughes (Justin Rouillon).
It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years since the passing of Phillip Hughes, forever 63 not out, after being struck whilst batting during a Sheffield Shield match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Ten years since we lost one of Australian cricket’s most promising young stars. During a game of cricket? It seemed unfathomable that something like this could happen on an Australian cricket field, especially at the elite level.
Aged just 25 when he passed, Phillip had already represented Australia at Test level 26 times, making his debut as a fresh faced 20 year old, and had scored three test centuries. Phillip also represented New South Wales and South Australia in domestic cricket, as well as playing county cricket for Worcestershire in the UK.
When he scored centuries in both innings of his second test match in Durban, he become the youngest ever player to achieve the feat.
By the time he had made his test debut, Phillip had already commanded the respect of senior Australian players like captain Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke.
“I’d seen footage and highlights, and he was the player we’d heard the most about”, Ricky Ponting has told a new documentary about Hughes’ life, to be released on December 6th.
The documentary, ‘The Boy From Macksville’ has been produced by Cricket Australia to mark the 10th anniversary of Phillip’s death, and features interviews from former team mates such as Usman Khawaja, Aaron Finch and Matthew Wade. The Hughes family has also been interviewed for the documentary – the first time they have agreed to be interviewed since Phillip’s death on November 27th, 2014.
In a statement released by Cricket Australia, the Hughes family said that “Phillip was a loving, humorous and an infectious person to be around. He always aimed to make those around him smile and enjoy the little things in life, where his beautiful smile would come to life.
“He shined bright even in the tough times, which is a testament to who he was as a person, and we loved everything about him. He was the light of our lives. Phillip had a profound love for his family and lived his life with respect to everyone around him.”
Darren Lehmann, who was the Australian coach at the time of Hughes’ passing said that he would have “gone on to play 120 test matches, there’s no doubt about that”.
Despite having the cricket world at his feet, Hughes remained a country boy at heart, and the documentary shows off his prodigious rise through the cricketing ranks to state and test cricketer, with unseen vision from Cricket Australia showing Hughes in and around the national side.
‘The Boy From Macksville’ will be aired on Channel 7, 7plus, Fox Sports and Kayo Sports after day one of the second Test in Adelaide on December 6. It will also be available to view on cricket.com.au’s digital platforms.