Darren Lehmann's heartbreaking Phillip Hughes revelation a decade on from cricket's darkest day
Lehmann revealed the young batsman had won a Test recall but didn't know it when he tragically lost his life.
As the cricket world prepares to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Phillip Hughes' passing, former Australian coach Darren Lehmann revealed the young batsman had secretly won a Test recall moments before he was tragically struck by a cricket ball. In a moment that shook the entire sporting world, Hughes was hit while batting for South Australia on November 25, in a tragic incident that took his life.
And in a heartbreaking revelation this week, Lehmann says prior to him being felled at the SCG, Australian selectors had decided to hand him an Australian Test recall after impressing them in his recent performances at Sheffield Shield level. When Hughes was struck down, he was 63 not out and didn't know he was set to return to the Test fold.
"Yeah, we'd had a meeting, already," Lehmann told Code Sports. "That was all done and we were about to tell Bucky Rogers (Chris Rogers) he was going to make way out of the team.
"Then obviously we had to put everything on hold. I was in the office (next to Allan Border Field) and they said Phil’s been hit. When we saw the video of that and he’s gone straight to the hospital, I literally flew straight down. I just left work with just my tracksuit and that was it. I had to buy clothes when I got down there and work it all out." Hughes' life support was tragically switched off two days later at St Vincent’s Hospital.
Hughes made 26 Test and 25 one-day international appearances for Australia, but at just 25 there was set to be so many more ahead of him. Hughes first took the cricketing world by storm when he made his Test debut in 2009. And when a vacancy suddenly opened up in the Australian team after Matthew Hayden retired, Hughes took the chance with both hands. He earned a place in the Test side for the tour of South Africa in 2009. And after he was dismissed for a fourth-ball duck in his first innings, he quickly rebounded and showed he was made of sterner stuff, making an assured 75 in the second innings.
He then scored hundreds in each inning of his second Test, becoming the youngest man to achieve the feat at Test level. However, it wasn't smooth sailing after that, with the opener dropped during the Ashes series that same year. And although he made it back several times thereafter, he failed to cement his spot in the team. From Hughes' 26 tests, he scored 1,535 runs at an average of 32.65, with three centuries and also scored two ODI hundreds.
Michael Clarke reveals Phil Hughes incident changed everything
Close friend and then Australian captain, Michael Clarke, said he was there the moment the Hughes family switched his life support off and couldn't accurately portray the profound impact losing his "little brother" had on him. "Losing Phillip at such a young age is a big part of my life," Clarke told Code Sports.
"I cherish my life a lot more now than I ever did. I enjoy my journey a lot more now than I ever did as a youngster. I look back now and wish when I played for Australia that I was more like this. That I stopped to smell the roses and realise it could be over tomorrow."
