The bond of two brothers
Tributes to Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes, who died in Sydney on November 27
28-Nov-2014
Writing for the Cricket Australia website, Andrew Ramsey explores the relationship Michael Clarke shared with Phillip Hughes, the bond of two brothers.
Their familial bond was forged in 2006 when - not far short of his 18th birthday - Hughes packed his cricket kit, transferred schools barely a month before he sat his HSC and moved from the rural sanctuary of Macksville into a two-bedroom flat in Sydney's inner-west.
Jacques Kallis, writing for the Cricket Australia website, says about Phillip Hughes: "Like millions of other people I will never forget the name 'Phillip Hughes', and neither will the game as a whole. His smile will live on in photographs but, perhaps, his legacy will be as a reminder to everyone who plays the game to treat it with the same respect that he did."
Philip made a stunning start to his Test career when he scored a century in each innings against us in Durban and made a mockery of our game plans against him. He spent about ten hours happily slapping all the bowlers over gully while we thought we would have him caught in the slips. He earned our total respect. Nothing we bowled at him or said could shake his concentration, and it soon became clear that he was a bloody good bloke off the field, too.
Also on the Cricket Australia website, Adam Burnett pays poetic tribute.
It's a tragedy of circumstance that's left our game in tatters, A happening that makes us ask just how much cricket matters. A young man lost so suddenly without a rhyme or reason, How does one accept that Phillip Hughes has played his final season?
But with the grief and sadness there's also cause for celebration, For a life that scaled lofty heights and charmed this sports-mad nation. For a gift that burned so brightly, that was raw and hard to tame, For that cheeky grin, ubiquitous with mention of his name.