Hughes\\\' death unites cricket in grief

LONDON, Dec 19 (AFP): Cricket confronted tragedy in 2014 with the death of Phillip Hughes after the Australia batsman was hit by a bouncer in a domestic first-class match.
Several batsmen had previously been killed in similar incidents, albeit at lower levels of the game, and two days after Hughes' death Israeli umpire Hillel Oscar died after a ball ricocheted off the stumps.
But the fact Hughes, 25, had scored three Test hundreds and was wearing a helmet, although the ball hit him on an unprotected area of the skull, contributed to a huge sense of shock throughout the cricket world.
Australia captain Michael Clarke, in a moving eulogy at Hughes' funeral, recalled walking out to the pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground-where his friend died-for the first time following his former team-mate's passing.
"I swear he was with me... Telling me we just needed to dig in," Clarke said, before adding: "We must play on."
Following a short delay to Australia's ongoing Test series at home to India, that is what happened with no great reduction in bouncer use.
Indeed New South Wales quick Sean Abbott, who received much sympathy after delivering the ball that killed Hughes, bowled a bouncer in his first over following the fatal accident on his way to a remarkable haul of six for 14 against Queensland at the SCG.
Clarke made a hundred in the first Test win over India but was sidelined soon afterwards with a career-threatening hamstring injury.