Everything has been put into perspective

Everything in the cricket world has been put into perspective by the death of Phillip Hughes and nothing else feels very important at the moment. Like hundreds of thousands who support and follow the game, my thoughts are also with his family.

It may be true that, as batsmen, we know and understand the risks we take in facing fast bowling but that is no consolation when someone loses their life. It is not something we are accustomed to in cricket and that makes it even harder to come to terms with.

Phillip made a stunning start to his Test career when he scored a century in each innings against us in Durban and made a mockery of our game plans against him. He spent about 10 hours happily slapping all the bowlers over gully while we thought we would have him caught in the slips. He earned our total respect. Nothing we bowled at him or said could shake his concentration, and it soon became clear that he was a bloody good bloke off the field, too.

The irony is that he played the short ball so well. He was aggressive and counter-attacked, often with great success – certainly when he played against us. Batsmen probably do get hit more often these days because they rely on their helmets to protect them whereas, in the pre-helmet era, they were more interested in getting out of the way.

Compared to many other sports cricket is a safe game but that doesn’t mean we should not try to make it safer. But the bouncer always has been and always will be an intrinsic part of the game, both for the bowler and the batsman. Like so many other players, I feel for Sean Abbott who bowled the final ball to Phillip. Once the shock has begun to subside, I trust he will be able to recover and resume his career.

Racing circuits have corners, and drivers sometimes crash. Rugby players sustain serious neck injuries but they still have scrums. Cricket’s version, I suppose, is the bouncer – but I never, ever thought I would see the day when it would claim the life of an international player.

Like millions of other people I will never forget the name ‘Phillip Hughes’, and neither will the game as a whole. His smile will live on in photographs but, perhaps, his legacy will be as a reminder to everyone who plays the game to treat it with the same respect that he did.