Old Boys show support for Aussie Hughes

PHIL Hughes’ death in Sydney yesterday has resonated with Old Selbornians, the East London club who know only too well how the cricket world feels right now.

On October 27 last year, Darryn Randall was playing for Old Boys in a league match against Fort Hare in Alice when he was felled by a bouncer and declared dead on arrival at a local hospital.

Australian Test opener Hughes died after being hit in the neck by a delivery while batting for South Australia in a Sheffield Shield match against New South Wales at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

The blow split an artery and caused massive bleeding on Hughes’ brain. He was resuscitated and had emergency surgery, but died in hospital yesterday. He was 25.

Old Boys cricket section president Gary Watson said yesterday a parent of one of the club’s players would travel to Australia today to present Cricket Australia with a framed letter of condolence and a club shirt as a gesture of support and solidarity.

“The suggestion came from the players,” Watson said yesterday, adding that those who witnessed the Randall incident were “still traumatised”.

“It affected them properly,” Watson said. “Can you imagine batting with your partner and your buddy, and a minute later he’s dead at the other end?”

The world’s media has been flooded with tributes to Hughes.

SA Test captain Hashim Amla said the death had “resonated with me and many in the cricket world family”.

“He was a fellow player and this news has certainly hit my heart,” Amla said.

“I personally admired him for his mettle and the way he made a mountain of runs.”