It has been ten years since former Australian Test opener Phillip Hughes passed away after being struck by a ball during a domestic competition in Australia. In what is a first, Hughes’ parents and other family members have opened up on the challenges and the memories of the former Test opener, who grew up in the small town of Macksville in New South Wales.
“My children know they’ve always been loved. Like all mothers, we try to be the best mums we can be, to guide them. They’re all very respectful, and Phillip was a kind and respectful young man.” Hughes’s mother Virginia Hughes says in Cricket Australia’s documentary The Boy from Macksville as reported by cricket.com.au.
Hughes, who was then 25-years-old, was struck by a bouncer on the side of his head below the helmet while playing in a Shield game in Sydney on November 25. The Australian Test opener, who played in 26 Tests for Australia amassing 1535 runs including three centuries and 25 ODIs and one T20Is for Australia, grew up in the small town of Macksville in the Nambucca Valley in New South Wales.
With his family owning a cattle and banana farm, Hughes grew up along with his elder brother Jason Hughes and younger sister Megan. With a young Hughes dominating at the school level, father Greg Hughes remembers the time when he would travel with a young Hughes for his cricket tournaments across New South Wales. “When he started making those school rep sides, you had to start travelling. Well he was the only one (locally) going, and he basically said, ‘Oh, Dad, you’re going to take me?’ Well, you do that as a parent, you know? So it was the start of many journeys, Phillip and I, in the car. I suppose half the time we were talking dribble … and Phillip would get lost riding around Macksville on his push bike, and he’s the navigator! But we ended up getting to every game, so it worked. And when we’d get back home, we’d stop in the car, and he’d always put his hand out (to shake) and he’d go, ‘Thanks very much, Dad’. Never failed – he said it every time,” remembers Greg in the documentary, which will be released on December 7, a day after the Day one of the second Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia at Adelaide.
Hughes underwent surgery after the incident after being rushed from the Sydney Cricket Ground but the Australian opener did not regain consciousness and breathed his last on November 27, 2014. His funeral was held in Macksville on December 3 with many including Australian cricketer Michael Clarke and then Australian PM Tony Abbot attending the funeral. Hughes’ younger sister Megan, who aspired to be a lawyer, moved to her parents home with her husband and the sister remembers the night of her 18th birthday. “The deejay was meant to finish at midnight. Phillip asked him how much it would cost to keep going. And the guy was from Coffs Harbour (45 minutes away), but Phillip got him to keep playing, so the party kept going.” Says Megan in the documentary.
The family has spent their time at the farm home and have been working on the branding of Four O Eight Angus, the business name Hughes had imagined as a tribute to his Test cap number for Australia. “I like to look at it like there is a little piece of legacy here,” Megan says. “So many of the things that we do, we bring in memories of Phillip, where we utilise things we’ve learned from him, and connect the farming with his other love of cricket. To really have both sort of entwined here on the farm, I think that he would love that. He’s everywhere here,” Megan says. “He loved being on the back hill of the property, but every paddock, every inch of this farm he’s been around … this place was paradise to him.”
Brother Jason too remembers Hughes’ early days in cricket and how he was initiated into the game with the elder boys playing cricket at the local ground. “We were short by two or three players. And (Phillip) used to whine about, ‘Oh, is it going to be a hard ball?’ I think that’s when he started, like, loving the game. But you don’t know, at that age, if they’re going to be any good,” says Jason.
With Hughes set to make his Test comeback in the coming days before his death, Jason gets emotional talking about his brother playing 100 Tests. “It kills me not knowing where his record could be today. I’m sure he’d probably have 100 Tests next to his name; he just kept fighting, kept coming back. He had this saying. I hit cover drives and cut shots – the more I do that, I can buy more cattle, and I can spend more time with my family’. So he’d be on the farm, with Mum, Dad and Megan, and I’m sure he’d have a big farm by now.” says Jason.
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