Phillip Hughes Australian Batsman Dies, Aged 25

Phillip Hughes

• Age: 25
• Born: Nov 30, 1988
• First Test: Aus v SA, Jo'burg, Feb 2009
• Last Test: Eng v Aus, Lord's, July 2013
• Tests: 26
• Test runs: 1,535
• Test average: 32.65
• 100s: 3
• 50s: 7

"Phillip took the blow at the side of the neck and as a result of that blow, his vertebral artery, one of the main arteries leading to the brain, was compressed by the ball. That caused the artery to split and for bleeding to go up into the brain, and he had a massive bleed into his brain. This is frequently fatal at the time".

"I think in this instance, this was a freakish accident because it was an injury to the neck that caused haemorrhage in the brain," Dr Brukner said.

Doctor describes Hughes injury as 'catastrophic'

Hughes was transported to St Vincent's Hospital. The head of trauma surgery there, Dr Tony Grabs, described his injury as "catastrophic".

"We haven't seen this at this hospital, this type of injury, so it is very rare and very freakish," Dr Grabs said. After carrying out an urgent CAT scan of Hughes's head doctors decided "an intervention into the brain" was required to relieve pressure.

"What sometimes happens in the brain is if you put blood around the brain, a small amount, you will start to become a bit drowsy," he said.

"If you put a lot of blood around the brain you will become unconscious."

Dr Grabs said Hughes was then taken to surgery where doctors removed some of his skull "to help to allow the brain to expand so it wasn't compressed". "The surgery took about 1 hour and 20 minutes or so and he was transferred back to the intensive care unit," he said. "After this we need to induce a coma to rest the patient and rest the brain and look after all the other bodily functions for him.

"Over a period of the first 24 to 48 hours, as we know, he did not make very much improvement. "Unfortunately as a consequence of the injury he died."