Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews has revealed the pain after being informed about the death of Australian batsman Phil Hughes on Thursday. Hughes, who was hit by a bouncer during a Sheffield Shield game on Tuesday passed away on Thursday at the age of 25.
Mathews and Hughes have played lot of cricket over the years. Both batsmen made centuries in the drawn SSC Test in 2011. Hughes also played the three match Test series against Sri Lanka when they toured Australia in 2012-2013. Later on that tour, Hughes played his first ODI and made a century on debut.
“Phil Hughes’ death was the first thing I heard when I woke up Thursday morning, and I had a very tough day going through it. Everyone had a tough day. Even though he’s an Australian, he’s our mate. When you lose a friend of yours, it is very difficult to go through. I hope and pray that we never ever hear of such an incident again in cricket, or any other sport,” Mathews told journalists yesterday.
“We were all deeply shocked and sad about this whole incident. It was totally surprising. Phil was a very humble guy, a thorough gentleman and a fighter when it came to cricket. His loss will be a big loss for cricket. We never expect something like this to happen when you bowl a bouncer. Even when the bowlers are aggressive, you don’t expect the batsman to get hurt,” Mathews further said.
“He played his first ODI against us. He scored a hundred in that match at MCG. He’s a great person. It’s not easy to get over things like this. You’ve got to move on, but it will take a lot of time to recover.”
