Sydney, November 27
Phil Hughes, who died on Thursday aged 25, will forever be remembered as one of Australian cricket's free spirits. A pugnacious left-hander brimming with self-confidence, his life was tragically cut short when he was hit on the head by a ball and never regained consciousness.

The violent manner of his death has shaken the cricket community, and the world of sport, to its core. Hughes had been in an out of the Australian national team for the past five years but had been pushing for re-selection. As a batsman he had his flaws, but those imperfections seemed to make him even more popular.

When he was struck down on Tuesday, batting for South Australia against New South Wales, he was 63 not out and seemingly on track for a place in the national team to play India next week.

Loveable character

The Australian public loved his fighting spirit and boisterous nature, a kid from the bush who made it to the top but never changed as a person. Hughes made 26 Test and 25 One-day International appearances for Australia, but at just 25 there seemed plenty of time to make more as he battled to overcome his weaknesses. His ability to score runs has never been questioned but his unorthodox batting technique, especially against short-pitched bowling, was an issue.

Hughes took the cricketing world by storm when he made his Test debut in 2009, scoring a mountain of runs despite often looking uncomfortable at the crease, stepping away from short-pitched deliveries and slashing the ball over backward point.

Like many Australian cricketers, Hughes was raised in rural New South Wales. The Australian bush can be a harsh and often remote environment with limited opportunities for children, but is one that has produced a long line of tough, single-minded players.

Hughes grew up on a banana plantation in Macksville, a town of 3,000 in the state's subtropical north, halfway between Sydney and the Queensland capital Brisbane. He honed his skills through hours of monotonous practice.

During the day, he would relentlessly hit balls in his backyard. At night, he would perfect his unique strokeplay by playing shots in front of a full-length mirror. By the age of 12 he had run out of junior players to challenge him so was forced to play against adults, who gave him his first real test of courage with a barrage of bouncers.

He made his first-class debut at 18 and finished the season by becoming the youngest player to score a century in the final of Australia's domestic Sheffield Shield competition.

Rise and fall

It was not just his timing at the crease that was perfect. A vacancy suddenly opened up in the Australian team after Matt Hayden retired and Hughes was waiting in the wings to earn a place in the Test side for the tour of South Africa in 2009. Riddled with nerves, he was dismissed for a fourth-ball duck after an ugly swipe in his first Test innings, but he quickly rebounded and showed he was made of sterner stuff.

Short for an opener, he made an assured 75 in the second innings then scored hundreds in each innings of his second Test, becoming the youngest man to achieve the feat at Test level. But his meteoric rise was matched by his sudden fall. He was dropped from the team during the Ashes series that same year and although he made it back several times since, he has never managed to cement his spot in the team, despite his widespread popularity.

From his 26 Tests, he scored 1,535 runs at an average of 32.65, with three centuries. He has also scored two ODI hundreds. Those statistics mean little right now. The cricket world is in mourning for a young man whose loss will be felt for years. — Reuters 

Such terrible news with the passing of Phil Hughes. Our deepest sympathies to his family.
— Glenn McGrath

Just heard the worst news possible... our thoughts & prayers are with Phil, his family & friends. RIP Phil Hughes.
— Mahela Jayawardena

Heart broken! A very dark day. You will be missed, Phil Hughes. My prayers and thoughts go out to his family & friends.
— Ab De Viliers

Totally, totally sick inside and have no words. Thinking and praying for friends and family.
— Graeme Smith

Shocked and saddened by the news of Phil Hughes. Horrible day for cricket. RIP Phil and may your family gain the strength to cope.
— Virat Kohli

Shocked to hear about Phil. Sad day for cricket. Deepest condolences to family, friends and well wishers. RIP.
— Sachin Tendulkar

New Delhi, November 27
The tragic death of Phil Hughes brought back to memory the unfortunate demise of Indian cricketer Raman Lamba, who had died 16 years ago after being struck on the head during a club match in Bangladesh. He was 38.

Lamba had suffered a head injury while fielding for Abahani against Mohammedan at Dhaka in 1998. He was not wearing a helmet when Mehrab Hossain’s shot struck him on the temple and rebounded to wicketkeeper Khaled Mashud. Lamba walked off the field, never to return again. While the news of Hughes’ death sent shockwaves through the global cricket community and beyond, it freshened up old wounds in faraway Portugal. Kim Lamba, Raman’s Irish wife, who has now settled down in Madeira with their children Jasmyn (21) and Kamran (19), had been painfully trying to erase the images that have remained stuck in her mind all these years. But now comes this dreadful news from Sydney.

Kim still cannot get over the fact that cricket has claimed another victim in Hughes. “I could not get Phillip — mere 25 young years — out of my head. This morning, I woke up to the deeply sad news of Phillip passing, and with a severe pain in the pit of my stomach. Many memories of the hours directly after Raman lost his fight for life came flooding back to me,” Kim told The Tribune from Portugal.

Kim said she had been praying for Hughes since Tuesday with a hope that he would pull through and that the medical expertise would save his life. “He was a charismatic and a talented young cricketer whom I do not know personally. I thought about his family as I know what it is like to be living through such helpless hours after such a serious cricketing incident. Since Tuesday, I could only pray that he would pull through,” she said.

“I wish to convey my deepest sympathy to Phillip’s family and his nearest and dearest and offer my support in prayer at this very traumatic time. May God bless him and may he be laid to rest in peace and be remembered globally for his talent, successes and love for the game,” she added. Kim said Phillip was “too young” to lose his life and his best cricket was still ahead of him.

“Thinking of the very bad luck of Phillip at this time, I can only say that at least Raman had 38 great years... This boy was too young for this,” she said. “Let’s pray for him in every religion.”— Reuters 

New Delhi, November 27
Hockey India (HI) on Thursday confirmed that Neil Hawgood has resigned as the head coach of the women's team and has refused to renew his contract that expires next month.

The Tribune had reported on Wednesday that Hawgood, under whom the Indian hockey team won its maiden medal (bronze) at the Junior World Cup, has tendered his resignation to HI and the SAI after being reportedly offered the role of Malaysian men's team coach.

“While we are sad that Neil will not be able to extend his contract with the team, we respect his decision and thank him for all his efforts and contribution towards making this team strong and capable to perform with such conviction on the international arena. Under Neil’s able leadership, the Indian women’s hockey team has progressed extremely well in the last two-and-half years,” HI said in a statement.

Sydney, November 27
The death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes was caused by a “freakish accident” that gave the 25-year-old international batsman little chance of survival, his doctors said on Thursday. Hughes was struck by a short-pitched delivery on Tuesday while playing in a domestic match and died in St Vincent's hospital on Thursday having never regained consciousness.

“I think in this instance, this was a freakish accident because it was an injury to the neck that caused haemorrhage in the brain. The condition is incredibly rare,” Cricket Australia doctor Peter Brukner told a media conference at the hospital.

The injury, called a subarachnoid haemorrhage, occurs when an artery is compressed and splits, forcing blood into the brain area. Only one case had previously been reported as a result of a cricket ball, said Brukner.

Such catastrophic injuries were frequently fatal at the time, but Hughes was resuscitated on the field and taken to hospital in a “reasonable condition,” he added. Tony Grabs, the head of trauma surgery at St Vincent's Hospital, said Hughes was taken quickly to surgery where part of his skull was removed to relieve pressure on his brain. “Over a period of the first 24 to 48 hours, as we know, he did not make very much improvement and unfortunately as a consequence of the injury he died,” Grabs said.

Manufacturers of cricket safety equipment had earlier said Hughes's accident was unusual and nothing on the market now would likely have prevented it. — Reuters

New Delhi, November 27
The Supreme Court today rejected the BCCI’s plea for entrusting with the existing Board members the responsibility of taking action against those indicted in the report of the Justice Mudgal Committee. An SC Bench comprising Justices TS Thakur and FMI Kalifulla noted that the panel’s investigation into betting and spot-fixing in IPL 2013 had raised questions about the integrity of some of the present BCCI office-bearers.

It noted that their term had already ended but they were continuing in office only under ‘fortuitous’ circumstances arising from the pending litigation.

The Bench said that one option was to allow fresh BCCI election after debarring the existing managing committee members from contesting it. The new committee could then set up an external panel to decide on the punishment to be given to those found guilty by the SC-appointed Mudgal Committee. Another possibility was to ask the Mudgal panel to suggest the penalties on the basis of its own findings and simultaneously order BCCI election.

At this, BCCI’s senior counsel Aryaman Sundaram said the Bench could decide the issue. The SC, however, made it clear that it did not want to curtail the BCCI’s powers. “What we say is, let there be a new Board. Let there be fresh blood in the Board as the present Board can’t take action with its members facing charges.”

Sundaram said the Board did not have any objection to entrusting the job with the Mudgal panel.

The Bench asked Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB), at whose instance the SC had appointed the probe panel, to justify its contention that the probe report had indicted deposed BCCI chief N Srinivasan for trying to cover-up illegal betting activities by his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan, who was team official of IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK). CSK is owned by India Cements, a company headed by Srinivasan as Managing Director.

“We can infer the cover-up from the report,” senior advocate Nalini Chidambaram said. Also arguing for CAB, senior advocate Harish Salve sought action against CSK and Srinivasan on the lines of the steps taken against Rajasthan Royals, another IPL team, and its part-owner couple Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty.

The Bench would hear further arguments by all parties on December 1 before passing any order.

London, November 27
Arsenal held their nerve, their lead and their record of reaching the Champions League knockout stages when they beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 on Wednesday to reach the last 16 for the 15th season in a row.

Three weeks after collapsing to a 3-3 draw with Anderlecht at the Emirates Stadium after holding a 3-0 lead, Arsenal went ahead in the second minute through Yaya Sanogo and made it 2-0 after 57 minutes through Alexis Sanchez.

This time, though, a similar self-inflicted implosion never looked likely. Arsenal looked far more assured than they have done recently following two successive Premier League defeats and they inflicted a first Champions League defeat on Dortmund, who stay top of the group with a game to play. — Reuters

Basel, November 27
Cristiano Ronaldo renewed his personal battle with Lionel Messi by scoring his 71st Champions League goal, putting him three behind the Argentine’s newly-set record, in Real Madrid’s 1-0 win at FC Basel on Wednesday.

Real, already qualified for the last-16, chalked up their 15th successive win in all competitions although they had to survive a difficult second half against the Swiss champions who refused to go quietly.

Despite their defeat, Basel, who have six points from five games, can still qualify for the last 16 if they avoid defeat at Liverpool in their final match. — Reuters

BRIEFLY

Adelaide
India's tour game called off after Hughes’ death:The Indian cricket team's second warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI here has been called off following the tragic death of Phillip Hughes. The two-day match, which was to begin tomorrow, was India's last practice fixture before the first Test against Australia, scheduled to start in Brisbane from December 4. Hughes' demise has put a question mark over the series opener and Sunil Gavaskar feels the onus now is on the cricket boards of the two nations to decide whether to call off the match or not. Gavaskar feels the cricketers of both the teams will not be in the perfect frame of mind going into the match. “The first Test is almost a week away but I am sure nobody would be in a mood to play. Nobody would be in the right frame of mind,” he said.

Macau
Sindhu, Prannoy in quarters, Praneeth bows out:PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy entered the quarterfinals of the the Macau Grand Prix Gold after posting hard-fought victories in their respective matches here today. However, it was curtains for Sai Praneeth, who went down fighting against Sony Dwi Kuncoro of Indonesia in his third round match. Sindhu had to face a tough challenge from Indonesia's Lindaweni Fanetri before prevailing 21-16 16-21 21-19. In the men's singles, Prannoy, seeded third, came from a game down to register a 17-21 21-19 21-14 win over Lin Yu-Hsien of Chinese Taipei. He will face Sony Dwi Kuncoro, who beat eighth-seeded Praneeth 21-16 19-21 21-17.

Sao Paulo
Pele in 'special care' as condition worsens:Brazil great Pele, 74, was on Thursday taken into a “special care” unit in a Sao Paulo hospital after his health worsened, three days after being admitted with a urinary infection, the hospital confirmed. “To receive the best care he was transferred in order to be monitored in a special care unit,” a statement released by the Albert Einstein hospital said. Pele underwent surgery for kidney stones on November 13 before being released two days later.

Bengaluru
Advani enters World Snooker quarters:Pankaj Advani gave enough reasons to believe that he was running into form as he played a solid game to win both his knockout matches and enter the men's quarterfinals of the Seaways-IBSF World Snooker Championships here Thursday. The 29-year old Bengaluru-based Advani smashed a brilliant 126 while overcoming compatriot Laxaman Rawat.

Vijayawada
Walker Priyanka creates national junior mark:Race walker Priyanka created a national record in junior women’s 10,000m with a time of 49:16.51 on the second day of the 30th junior Athletics Nationals here today. Rajasthan's Bhawna Jat (55:24.39) and Kerala’s Mary Margaret (56:48.06) finished a distant second and third. Haryana lads Manish (45:36.0) and Sunil (45:38.2) bagged the first two places in the youth boys’ 10,000m walk.

Guwahati
NorthEast thrash leaders Chennaiyin 3-0:NorthEast United pumped in three first-half goals in a rampaging show to drub table toppers Chennaiyin FC 3-0 in an absorbing ISL match to keep their hopes of a semifinal berth alive. Senegalese Massamba Lo Sambou scored twice (21st and 23th) after Durga Boro struck in the 10th minute. — Agencies