Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes could not have been saved after he was hit in the neck by a ball while he was batting in a Sheffield Shield match two years ago, a judicial inquiry into his death has revealed. The 25-year-old former Test batsman was struck by a bouncer from New South Wales paceman Sean Abbott while he was batting for South Australia on November 25, 2014.
In the footage played before the state coroner Michael Barnes on Sunday, Hughes attempts to hook the Abbott delivery, but misses and is struck on the left side of his neck. In the aftermath, he leans forward with his hands on his knees, before collapsing forward without making any attempt to break his fall. Hughes never recovered consciousness and died two days later at St Vincent’s hospital.
Professor Brian Owler, a neurosurgeon and the former head of the Australian Medical Association, reviewed the incident as well as the postmortem results, and said, “No intervention, no matter how early, that could have been performed to avoid his death.” Owler said the medical treatment Hughes received was “timely and appropriate”.
