New details about 'horrible' treatment of fallen cricket star Phillip Hughes come to light
Hughes texted his manager on the day of the tragic incident stating "they won't get me out".
A final heartbreaking text message has revealed exactly what Phillip Hughes was thinking on the day he was horrifically 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.
When Hughes was struck down, he was 63 not out and didn't know he was set to return to the Test fold, with selectors reportedly agreeing to recall him to the team just hours before the incident. After being in and out of the team, Hughes was desperate to earn his spot back and even told his manager on the day tragedy struck, "They won't get me out today".
“I have a text from him on that day, and he said they won’t get me out today,” Hughes’s manager James Henderson said in the Cricket Australia documentary, 'The Boy from Macksville'. “And they didn’t.”
But in a heartfelt hour-long Cricket Australia documentary released on Friday night, questions were raised about the treatment of Hughes. The overarching theme of 'The Boy from Macksville' was around the potential of Hughes, and the path he was on before he was struck in the neck while batting in November 2014.
"At that point in time, he is the same age as Steve Smith and a couple of years younger than Dave Warner,” former teammate Ed Cowan said in the documentary. “Who is the best cricketer of those three? Phil Hughes by far.”
But Hughes' career prior to his tragic passing was stop-start. The batsman was dropped four times in a five-and-a-half-year period, with his first axing incredibly coming just three Tests after he became the youngest player in history to score twin tons against South Africa. And Australian opener Usman Khawaja claimed the way he was treated by Australian selectors was "horrible".
“Selectors at that time were horrible,” Khawaja said in the documentary. “Let’s be clear on that. I just could not believe they dropped him at that time. The most short-sighted thinking.
“(They'd say) ‘his technique is not up to standard’. What do you mean his technique is not? He has scored the most runs out of anyone in the world right now in the last year.” Justin Langer also claims he was “incredibly disappointed” at the time, while Simon Katich labelled it as “brutal”.
Hughes regained his spot twice in 2010 and 2011, scored a century in Sri Lanka, but was dropped again four Tests later after edging off to Chris Martin in four straight innings. “It was two Tests against New Zealand, we’ve got another four coming up against India,” Khawaja said.
“It is like: put that aside selectors. Yes, one bowler had him, but just let it go. He is a future hall-of-famer.” Hughes was dropped for a final time in the 2013 Ashes, one Test after hitting a crucial 81no.
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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."
with AAP
