Former Australia coach Darren Lehmann revealed that Phillip Hughes had won a Test recall before his tragic death. (Reuters)
As the cricket fraternity braces to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the tragic passing of Phillip Hughes later this month, former Australia head coach Daren Lehmann made a painful revelation that the young left-hander had won a Test recall shortly before he succumbed to a vicious bouncer at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
On November 25, 2014, a day that sent shockwaves across the cricketing globe, the 25-year-old Hughes was batting for South Australia when he was struck on the neck during a Sheffield Shield match. Hughes passed away on November 27, three days short of his 26th birthday, due to a rare cerebral haemorrhage.
However, the then-Australia coach Lehmann, has now revealed that the team management was about to disclose to Hughes about his Test recall before the heartbreaking incident. Hughes was out of the Test side for nearly 18 months after the 2013 Ashes before he was slated for a comeback in place of Chris Rogers in the 2014-15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, said Lehmann in a Code Sports special report.
“Yeah, we’d had a meeting, already. That was all done and we were about to tell Bucky 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 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,” Lehmann said.
Hughes’ then captain Michael Clarke said he was in the room with the Hughes family when his life support was switched off.
“Losing Phillip at such a young age is a big part of my life. 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,” Clarke told Code Sports.
Clarke, David Warner and Steve Smith – three of Hughes’ closest friends – all scored hundreds in their first Test since the incident, two weeks later, against India in Adelaide. Australia would go on to clinch the series 2-0.
“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,” Clarke added.
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