Cricket will overcome its darkest hour

After two days in a coma, Australian Test cricketer Phil Hughes is dead. The cricket world is shocked and stunned. How did this happen?

A quiet Tuesday afternoon at the SCG, the opening day of a Sheffield Shield clash. Phil Hughes, striving to regain a place in the Test team was at the crease.

He passed his 50 and was looking comfortable. Didn’t have a care in the world. But in a split second, his world came to a sudden end.

It was a freak accident. Players have been hit by bouncers before, and they will be in the future. But this one hit Hughes in exactly the wrong spot.

The chances against it were so remote that it’s only happened a handful of times in any level of cricket ever. But it happened.

But, unlikely though it was, cricket is not immune from danger.

We guard against danger as much as we can. Bodyline fields are banned. Batsmen wear helmets. But we can not eliminate danger.

But we can not say that because cricket is dangerous, it shouldn’t be played. There’s as much danger, perhaps more, in not playing cricket.

This is tragic, but it is rare. It’s not possible to go through life without danger. To get to the ground, you have to drive or catch a bus and cross the street. To eat, there is the risk of poisoning.

To be around other people, there is the risk of disease infection. And so on.

Although you take as much care as you can, you can not eliminate danger. To go to the ultimate degree of safety would be to live as a recluse, isolated from the world and the perils within.

But that’s not really living.

Better to live as Phillip Hughes than Howard Hughes. And Howard Hughes still died.

The death of Phil Hughes is not the death of cricket. Cricket will go on. I believe, the sooner the better – and that next week’s Test should go ahead as scheduled.

It was right to call off the game after Hughes was hit. For what the players witnessed, it would be too hard to regain focus on that game.

But by the time a week has gone by, it will be right to play again.

The cricket community around the world has rallied together in mourning. For those who knew him, there is no time limit on grief. By next week, some may still be too grieved to play.

But others will want to honour Hughes by returning to the game he loved. The cricket world will be keen not just to unite in sadness; but to celebrate the game which was Hughes’ passion.

That the game of cricket which brought about Hughes’ passing can also bring about our healing.

But, be it next week or later, cricket will return. Not because the game is bigger than the person; but because it is a passion not just for Phil Hughes but also for countless others.

Eleven players will take the field for Australia, for South Australia, for Adelaide Strikers, for other teams. Someone will take Phillip Hughes’ place.

To take on the torch that he has passed, and run his race with it. To take the bat that has been put out, and use it to score runs.

May he who takes Hughes’ place conduct himself with the spirit, humility and sportsmanship that Hughes embodied. This will be the true honour of Hughes’ legacy.