The outpouring of grief for Phil Hughes has been nothing short of remarkable. Cricket, despite erroneous reports of it’s impending demise, remains embedded deeply in the psyche of Australians. No other sport in Australia, Aussie Rules included, gets us so close to it’s players and makes them household names. I once heard the summer of cricket described as our annual soap opera and that is not far from being correct. The heroes of the bat and ball game become so recognisable to us that they are as familiar as old mates although most of us will never meet them. That is part of what makes Phil Hughes’ death so sad. It is like losing a friend.
Phil Hughes was the epitome of Australian youth. The son of a banana farmer from Macksville in northern NSW, he was diminutive in stature but talented beyond the norm when it came to sport. A good rugby league five-eighth, he could also wield a cricket back like a scythe and that is how he made his name-as a swashbuckling, left-handed opening batsman who seemed to have thousands of runs for Australia left in him. A local boy who could smite the poms and put those swaggering Saffas back in their place. Alas, a long career was not to be.
We have all played cricket whether it be in the backyard with our families at Christmas or by applying ourselves seriously on the sun baked pitches of an Australian summer. It is embroided richly and deeply in our national culture. Maybe that is why the death of one of it’s finest young players has hurt the nation so much. People shouldn’t die playing cricket.
The summer of cricket will roll on and the game will return to normal eventually and the trivialities which newspapers and sportsfans dribble over such as who should or shouldn’t be in the team or the dissection of the latest scandal will soon become the norm again. The focus will return to the long, smoldering days on the MCG as thousands of us lesser lights huddle under our air conditioners in our lounge rooms and watch our national team go through it’s paces, desperately hoping for a wicket to fall or urging a batsman on towards a century. The future will beckon us again. Time stands still for no-one.
Phil Hughes will be remembered no doubt and although his star will become more distant as the years wear on I am sure he will remain an inspiration for every young’un who finds a love for willow and leather and dreams of playing for Australia.
May he rest in peace.
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| RIP Phil Hughes |
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 