Phil Hughes, Australian Cricketer, Dies In Sydney 2 Days After Being Hit In The Head By A Ball

Phil Hughes, an Australian cricketer, died in a hospital in Sydney on Wednesday, two days after he was hit in the head by a ball during a local cricket game earlier this week.

Hughes, who was wearing a helmet, crumbled to the ground unconscious after a fast ball pitched at him by a bowler hit him on the head at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday. The 25-year-old batsman was then carried off on a stretcher. According to Cricket Australia officials, Hughes never regained consciousness and died at the hospital on Wednesday.

“It is my sad duty to inform you that a short time ago Phillip Hughes passed away,” ABC News quoted Australian team doctor Peter Brukner as saying in a statement. “He never regained consciousness following his injury on Tuesday.”

Born on Nov. 30, 1988, Hughes made his debut in the long-form five-day Test cricket version of the game in South Africa in 2009. He had played 26 tests and scored 1,535 runs with an average of 32.65. He had also thrice scored 100 runs in a single inning, known as a century in cricketing parlance.

Batsmen in cricket typically use protective gear to shield themselves from balls hurled at them by bowlers at speeds of up to 100 mph. Australia is known to produce some of the game's fastest bowlers, and a cricket ball, typically made of a cork core enclosed in leather, which measures about 9 inches in circumference and weighs up to 5.8 ounces, can be a lethal projectile. However, deaths from being hit by a ball during a game are rare.

Here is the video of the ball that hit Hughes on the field.